Election for Undergraduate Student Trustee to take place today 

The University of Connecticut election for Undergraduate Student Trustee is set to take place from today at noon until noon on Thursday. 

Five candidates are competing for a voting seat on UConn’s Board of Trustees, which votes on university funding of major development projects, tuition and university bylaws. The seat has been previously held by Aanya Mehta, who is now running for graduate student trustee, the other seat on the board held by a student. Turnout in UConn’s elections has been historically low, hovering around 10%. 

Candidates widely agree on a number of issues, with disagreements revolving mostly around priorities. Communication appears to be at the forefront of many candidates’ minds, with candidate Zachary Boudah saying, “I think all of the- my colleagues on the ballot, I think we all have the same thing in our platform which is ‘communication’ and it’s up to you to determine if you believe anybody or not.”  

Another candidate, Eric Meade, has the campaign slogan ‘ACTS,’ which stands for ‘Accountability, Communication, Transparency and Sustainability.’ He also raised the issue of communication between the undergraduate student trustee and UConn students, saying “I just felt there was more room for communication with students.” 

Sustainability is another widely agreed upon issue, with candidates Meade and Sean Dunn both being members of Fossil Fuel Free UConn. Boudah thought that there was widespread agreement among candidates. “This is another thing that I think that all of the other candidates and myself all agree on is that UConn’s climate change agenda has been failing for years and years and years. We’ve been saying we’re going to go carbon neutral. We’ve been saying we’re going to go carbon zero, but we’re not making any tangible progress,” Boudah said. 

Regional campus issues received varying degrees of attention from candidates, with Avery Point’s student body president Boudah being the only candidate running from a regional campus. If elected, he would be the first undergraduate student trustee from a regional campus. Nahum Valiente transferred to Storrs from Stamford Campus, where he was Stamford’s student body president. 

Boudah discussed university bylaws, saying, “there’s never really been a true regional campus presence within the administration until this year, thanks to my work on the University Senate and amending university and University Senate bylaws. Until now, we’ve been left out of the conversation, forgotten about, left behind. And I think it’s time for that to end, and I think that it’s time for us to finally move forward.” 

Valiente raised issues with high transfer and dropout rates from students transferring to Storrs from regional campuses. Both raised food insecurity issues for regional campus students. Boudah stated that Husky Harvest was “a step in the right direction,” and agreed with Valiente who said that there are nutrition issues with food available. Valiente also said that UConn did not adequately publicize available Dean’s Office resources, such as UConn Swipes, which is a program by which food insecure students can get 25 meal swipes per semester. 

Discrimination and death threats directed at UConn’s Muslim and Palestinian students were addressed by students to varying degrees. Current undergraduate student trustee Mehta said in a written statement that the most important thing that she had done on the Board was to be “an advocate for Palestinian and Muslim students.” Valiente listed on his Instagram his policy of “making students feel safe in the light of violent and racist threats made against those who were peacefully and rightfully expressing their voice on global issues.” 

Dunn and Boudah also raised the issue of hate directed towards UConn’s Muslim students, with Boudah saying, “we need to be increasing the amount of resources that we are offering those students because frankly they’re going through one of the most traumatic experiences of their lives right now. And we, as a university, need to take care of our own.” Boudah also prioritized divesting from Israel, saying, “We need to de-invest every dime we have in Israel.” 

Dunn and Haritha Subramanian raised mental health issues as a priority, with Dunn making mental health and student services one of his four policy categories on his Instagram account. He wanted to centralize care to one building and said, “long term therapy, I’m super passionate about that.” Subramanian said that she wanted mental healthcare to be “identity driven and culturally respectful.” She also stated that SHAW Mental Health was “understaffed” and lacked necessary resources, and that she wants higher funding for cultural centers. 

Meade was the first candidate to raise the issue of transport to regional campuses, spending for which is not capped, saying that when he ran for undergraduate student trustee last year, he did not have a car, making it inaccessible for him to get to other campuses. Subramanian said that there was an “inherent inequity if they don’t fund” transport. When asked why UConn did not include travel as a campaign expenditure (which would result in a spending cap), Student Trustee Election Committee chair Krista O’Brien said in a written statement that “STEC financial expenditure policies mirror the existing policies at UConn for travel/commuting to campuses.” 

More information on each of these candidates can be found at vote.uconn.edu and at their campaign Instagram accounts. Meade’s account is ericfortrustee, Boudah’s is boudahfortrustee, Dunn’s is dunn4trustee, Subramanian’s is haritha4trustee and Valiente’s is nahum.for.trustee.