More campus elections are competitive this year

Last year, the races for president of two prominent student-led organizations featured candidates running unopposed.

But this year students will have to choose between the candidates for president of the Residence Hall Association and president of the Carolina Athletic Association.

Josh Reed, one of the candidates for RHA president, said this is the first time in nine years that the RHA presidency has been a competitive position. He said the race will help the campus community realize that this race is just as important as other races, such as student body president.

Reed said he wants to build connections between community governors and on-campus groups.

“Residence halls are great places to meet people, and connecting students to campus organizations will make them want to come back and live on-campus again,” he said.

Reed said he also wants to raise the profile of Living-Learning Communities.

He is running against Kendall Nicosia-Rusin, whose platform focuses on community health, involvement and community voice.

“The reason I ran was because I wanted the residents to have more say in the small things, like T-shirt design,” she said.

She also said she wants to educate residents on the day-to-day aspects of living healthy lifestyles while encouraging communities to take on service themes and work together.

Nicosia-Rusin said the competitive races this year show the strong passion on UNC’s campus to make a difference.

“I think it shows commitment of those involved with RHA to giving back to the community at large,” she said.

The race for president of the CAA, which was not competitive last year, has two candidates in the running.

Stefon Walters, who is running against Allison Hill, said he plans to build relationships between the CAA and the student body, among other things.

“Being a student who wasn’t involved in CAA, I noticed they lacked relations to the student body,” he said.

Hill could not be reached for comment.

Four teams have filed to run as senior class officers: Derek Murray and Mary Ellen Weilandt; Ashley Schaefer and Chris Vinson; Lauren Smith and Jordan Paschal; and Georgia Walker and Tony Botros.

Third-year philosophy Ph.D. student Kiran Bhardwaj is running unopposed for president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation.

Bhardwaj said she would work to protect the affordable tuition levels and support research, special programs and mentorship among graduate students.

She said she wants to make sure graduate students are involved in the far-reaching decisions made by UNC’s administration.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.