Nicholle Salvatierra | Staff Writer

Students at Riverside City College are campaigning for student body elections taking place May 6 – 7.

Those interested in running for office have introduced themselves to students by gaining 50 signatures. The students that have received the minimum amount of signatures and fit the academic requirements are able to run for positions on either the legislative executive or judicial branches.

The students running have attended a meeting to discuss the guidelines for petitioning. Candidates must follow rules on the amount of fliers, online campaigning and
campaign funding.

To start the race, candidates were able to speak to students at an open forum during college hour April 23.

John Finnegan was the only senate candidate to attend the forum and answered questions for students.

“My goal is to increase the success rate through student activism,” said Finnegan who has previous experience organizing events.

Along with Finnegan the other students running for senate positions include: Joe Palmer, Olivia Wilbur, Ravneet Kaur, Rayan Elhamra, Rakhee Uma, Arturo Quiroz and Megan Contreras.

Current Chief Justice, Tandy Dang is running for President with his vice president Laura Tapia answered their questions together during the forum.

Dang and Tapia gave an overview of their goals, including continuing to improve the resource center and represent the students.

“Our priorities,”said Dang, “are student concerned.”

Accreditation for courses, eliminating smoking on campus, establishing one-on-one connections with students and raising attendance for forums are important issues that Dang and Tapia are pushing for during their campaign.

Sen. Ryan Rudolph and Ray Orozco answered questions as a team during the open forum. The two have already started giving presentations to students on what student government does in order to increase voter turnout.

Rudolph and Orozco are both experienced in leadership and have established relationships with clubs.

“As a president you have to know what’s going on,” said presidential candidate Rudolph. “We need to be better aware of student issues to create solutions.”

Campaigns will continue until Election Day on May 6 – 7. Students may vote either on campus, or through WebAdvisor.