ASSU kicks off student government election cycle at the Arbor 

The student government election season began this Monday with the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Elections Commission’s campaign kick-off.

The event drew over 50 people who came to mingle and meet the students running for ASSU positions at The Arbor. Candidates campaigning for senate, class president and executive branches introduced their platforms and heard from students on their hopes for the upcoming year.

The event is the first of many to come in the following weeks for candidates to explain platforms and students to inform themselves ahead of the April 16 election. 

“We want students to start to get as many opportunities as possible to meet the candidates that want to lead them and shape Stanford’s future,” said Charlie Schumer J.D. ’28, the deputy commissioner for the elections commission. “We want to facilitate a ton of opportunities for that, whether it’s the candidates themselves having events, or the few events that we have as well for the students to meet the candidates.”

Candidates left the event feeling a sense of unity after discussing the changes they hope to see implemented in the coming academic year with fellow students.

“It was a great turnout,” said second-year Ph.D. candidate and Daily contributor Angikar Ghosal, who is running for ASSU executive vice president alongside Jake Hofman ’27 as executive president.

“I think people are excited and the overall environment is very amicable and friendly… it’s good to get the feedback [on the] policies that me, Jake and a bunch of our friends collectively came up with,” Ghosal said.

Hohman performed a few card and magic tricks for students at the event. ASSU also provided food for students and candidates as they exchanged platform and policy ideas with one another.

Jared Hammerstrom ’27 and Celeste Vargas ’27, who are also running for ASSU executive president and vice president, were excited to hear from students about what they are looking forward to throughout the Stanford journey.

“Being able to talk to so many students, hear what they have to say, and hear…how we’re able to continue to make a difference, to positively impact the student body, that really excites us,” Hammerstrom said.

“We’re really excited to keep continuing conversations with students and exploring how we can make Stanford the best place it can be,” Vargas said.

Eva Lacy ’27, who is running for ASSU executive vice president alongside Madhav Prakash as executive president, appreciated the strong turnout of freshmen at the event. “Madhav and I both were talking about the fact that we felt so invigorated as frosh…so it was really exciting to get to meet so many excited frosh who share that vision,” she said.

Lacy highlighted the feeling of community at the event, as candidates expressed their visions to improve Stanford. “This was such a positive and ‘For Stanford’ event. It was exciting to get to meet other candidates and hear what they care about and share what we care about.”

Dilan Gohill contributed reporting.

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