When Jordan Heinz ran for Senate as a freshman from Ayers College of Commerce and Industry, he told himself he would not just run for one year. He wanted to be involved in ASG for his entire four years at Northwestern.
Now he is only one election away from reaching that goal.
“The pressure definitely makes campaigning 10 times more difficult,” said Heinz, the current ASG Executive Vice President. “But without a doubt, I feel it’s my experience that sets me apart.”
Although Heinz has more ASG experience than any other candidate, he is not just relying on past accomplishments. Believing face-to-face contact with students to be “really important,” Heinz’s packed campaign schedule will take him to every NU dorm before the week is over.
While meeting students across campus, Heinz hopes to showcase his down-to-earth, up-front style. He said this persona separates him from past ASG “insiders” who have run for president.
“I really feel that I’m the candidate who has the best pulse on what this campus needs,” said Heinz. “I realize the mistakes of the past and have the experience to move us forward. If there is any year for an ASG insider to be elected president, it is this year.”
Current ASG President Adam Humann said he agrees, and that Heinz is the only candidate who can continue ASG’s recent “upswing.”
“We’ve invested a lot in this organization,” said Humann, a Weinberg senior. “The only person running for president who knows exactly what we have done, and how to continue it, is Jordan.”
Heinz has a detailed 12-page platform of ideas he wants to accomplish if elected, including working alongside NU administrators to solicit donations, holding quarterly meetings with Evanston aldermen, creating an on-campus travel agency and opening the beaches at NU during the last month of school.
As president, Heinz said he would collect student input through an online survey with four broad questions addressing student concerns.
“I want ASG to be more proactive, not reactive,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to wait for students to come to us; we should come to them.”
Heinz’s Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers said that his dedication to ASG is something he takes “very seriously.”
“Northwestern is a more than a school for Jordan; it’s his home,” said James Finley, a McCormick junior. “When he finds something he cares about, he puts everything into it. And he definitely cares about ASG.”
But Heinz also realizes that with elections at NU, nothing is guaranteed.
“Having been in ASG for three years is my biggest advantage and biggest disadvantage,” he said at the presidential debate. “But I’m not someone from the inside who wants to keep everything exactly the same. We have made some awesome changes in the past two years, and I just want to keep them coming.”
