2A — Thursday, March 19, 2020
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Represent 
Michigan 

joined the race for the 

University of Michigan 

Central 
Student 

Government 
(CSG) 

election 
taking 
place 

next 
Wednesday 
and 

Thursday. The party is 

putting forth a slate of 

endorsed candidates — 

without 
an 
executive 

ticket — to vie for seats in 

the Assembly.

In an interview with 

The Daily, Engineering 

sophomore 
Carla 

Voigt, 
a 
current 
CSG 

representative 
who 

serves 
as 
Represent’s 

campaign manager and is 

running for re-election, 

said she first looked at 

each of the other parties 

running in the election — 

Mobilize and Change At 

Michigan — but felt they 

were not going to make 

the impact she wanted 

CSG to make. She said 

Represent was formed 

because neither of the 

other parties showed her 

they wanted to make a 

difference.

“We’re 
going 
to 

differentiate 
ourselves 

from 
the 
other 
two 

parties because they are 

saying that they are going 

to change things and that 

it’s going to be different,” 

Voigt said. “But I really 

was never shown that it 

is going to be different. 

And I want it to be. So we 

devised our own way.”

Represent’s 
platform 

includes 
affordability 

and accessibility; sexual 

assault 
prevention; 

diversity, 
equity 
and 

inclusion; 
mental 

health 
awareness; 
and 

sustainability. 
There 

are also platform points 

specifically 
targeted 

toward 
bettering 
the 

lives of certain groups 

on 
campus, 
such 
as 

international students or 

renters.

However, 
while 

all 
of 
the 
parties’ 

goals 
are 
similar, 

Engineering 
senior 

Mario Galindez, deputy 

campaign manager, said 

Represent’s 
platform 

stands out because of its 

achievability. 
Galindez 

said that instead of using 

buzzwords or creating 

five-year plans, as he 

said he has seen CSG do 

in the past, Represent’s 

platform 
includes 

tangible 
methods 
to 

efficiently 
enact 
the 

change they want to see.

“For us, it’s about the 

direct impact to students 

instead 
of 
general 

advocacy for ‘change,’” 

Galindez said.

The election will take 

place online on March 

25-26. With Represent’s 

announcement, the party 

becomes the third to 

enter to race for seats on 

the Assembly.

LSA sophomore Sam 

Braden, who is running 

for 
re-election 
as 
an 

LSA representative, said 

in 
previous 
elections, 

representatives 

campaigned 
for 
their 

party’s 
presidential 

and 
vice-presidential 

candidates. 
However, 

because 
Represent 

is not putting up an 

executive ticket, Braden 

said their campaign is 

focused more closely on 

developing 
plans 
with 

their representatives that 

will make a noticeable 

difference in the lives of 

students.

An amendment CSG 

passed 
in 
February 

requires the separation 

of 
the 
executive 

ticket and the slate of 

representatives endorsed 

by a party. Additionally, 

the 
amendment 
also 

declared there will be no 

party affiliations next to 

the names of candidates 

on the ballot.

Braden 
said 
even 

without 
this 
change, 

the party would not be 

hindered 
by 
running 

without 
an 
executive 

ticket. 
Voigt 
noted 

they still have the slate 

propping up what would 

have been the executive 

ticket, 
but 
they 
are 

promoting 
the 
party 

rather than two specific 

candidates.

To find representatives, 

Braden said they looked 

through 
Maize 
Pages 

and newspaper articles 

to 
find 
people 
who 

were 
enacting 
change 

across 
campus 
and 

encouraged them to run 

for representative seats. 

Braden said he did this so 

activists on campus can 

use CSG’s resources to 

elevate their ideas.

“There are people on 

campus who don’t get 

engaged with CSG, who 

are doing positive work 

and could use our million 

dollar budget that we 

wanted to engage via 

CSG and give them an 

opportunity,” 
Braden 

said. “Something I like 

about Represent is that 

we weren’t like, ‘We’re a 

party, come apply to us’ 

… We found people who 

are making a concrete 

change on campus and 

then we wanted to give 

them a boost.”

Voigt 
said 
she 
is 

hopeful CSG can move 

toward acting as a vehicle 

for improving students’ 

lives. She said she is 

optimistic 
about 
CSG 

because of its potential to 

advocate for students but 

has been disappointed 

by the lack of impact 

the 
organization 
has 

previously had.

“The current culture 

is just so one of just 

stagnant non-progress,” 

Voigt said. ”People are 

outcasts 
when 
they’re 

trying to do things, when 

it’s like, we’re supposed 

to be trying to do things.”

Braden 
said 
there 

have 
been 
previous 

efforts carried out by 

CSG, 
such 
as 
giving 

students free donuts, so 

students 
“know 
what 

CSG is doing.” While he 

said these efforts are 

somewhat beneficial, he 

would like students to 

know what CSG is doing 

because they are doing 

things that improve life 

for people on campus. 

Braden said Represent 

aims to do just that.

“We should be doing 

things for students that 

they know about because 

it affects them,” Braden 

said. “If we need to tell 

you what we’re doing, 

there’s a problem. If we 

aren’t 
affecting 
your 

lives, we aren’t doing our 

jobs.”

Daily News Editor Alex 

Harring can be reached at 

harring@umich.edu.

ALEX HARRING

Daily News Editor

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ALICE LIU/Daily

Despite campus encouraging everyone to return to their permanent residence, students continue to visit Nichols Arboretum Wednesday afternoon.
Represent joins CSG race 
without executive ticket

New party to challenge Mobilize, Change At Michigan for seats in 
upcoming Central Student Government elections on March 25-26

