Jay Goyal said he is running for Associated Student Government president not to lead student groups, but to be a spokesman for them. After their debate Sunday night, the Coalition of Color vindicated Goyal’s vision by endorsing him for president.
“I tried to gather input from different groups and different people, and then gather solutions to their needs,” said Goyal, a McCormick sophomore. “The reason why you run in any election is that you want to better society. When a group such as the Coalition of Color formally endorses you for a position, it shows they believe your ideas are very solid.”
The Coalition of Color, made up of For Members Only, Alianza, South Asian Student Alliance, Asian-American Advisory Board and Muslim-cultural Student Association, also endorsed Srikanth Reddy for executive vice president, Courtney Brunsfeld strongly for student services vice president and Ebo Dawson-Andoh strongly for academic vice president.
While coalition members also expressed confidence in presidential candidate Jordan Heinz because of his ASG experience, they said Goyal won the endorsement because of his “real interest” in multicultural groups.
“Jay approached our organizations and asked us about the issues,” said Katherine Unmuth, president of Alianza. “While Jordan’s experience works for him, what is important to the coalition was best expressed by Jay.”
Vishal Vaid, former president of SASA, said Goyal’s student review committee idea would be “an important catalyst for student interests on campus.”
As for executive vice president, the coalition said they selected Reddy because of his experience on the Student Activities Finance Board. As a major part of his platform, Reddy wants to teach student groups how to lobby SAFB for funds if elected.
“FMO feels Srikanth’s overall ideas of how the executive committee should function are necessary,” said Le’Jamiel Goodall, administrative vice coordinator of FMO. “He will make the committee as a whole work with and for student groups.”
In endorsing Reddy, the Coalition bypassed candidates Art Janik and Hisham Zaid, both of whom have been active in multicultural student groups. Janik, who thought he was a strong candidate for the endorsement because of his position on the Multicultural Center Advisory Board and experience with the Polish-American Student Alliance, said he was disappointed.
“I thought there was more to multicultural groups than being concerned with funding,” said Janik, a Medill junior. “I have the administrative contacts through my previous work with multicultural organizations.”
In the race for student services vice president, coalition members said Brunsfeld’s initiative in researching the multicultural center won her the endorsement. Brunsfeld said she developed her platform by talking to student groups and taking a tour of the center.
“Not only did Courtney sound the most genuine, but she knew her stuff,” said Marie Claire Tran of the Asian-American Advisory Board. “The multicultural center is growing, and anyone in student services has to understand that because then they will be able to help us so much more.”
In the debate, Brunsfeld said she feels one of Northwestern’s largest problems is that there is too much talking about diversity and not enough action.
Tran said she agrees that diversity on campus is hard to define.
“Multiculturalism and diversity are such loaded words,” said Tran, a Weinberg senior. “Courtney came across with tangible, substantive ideas, which is exactly what we want in a candidate.”
In endorsing Ebo Dawson-Andoh for academic vice president, coalition members said they looked at his experience on the academic committee.
“Ebo has so much experience already and has done so much work already this year,” said Anees Fazili, an executive board member of McSA. “It came down to his past record and experience with the committee.”
Although coalition members disagree with Dawson-Andoh in their support of a full day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, they said his proposal of having classes end at noon was a “reformed alternative.”
“From what Ebo said, he is not opposed to a full day off,” Tran said. “I think he’s just being realistic with what can be accomplished with the administration. But we are in agreement that the current MLK Day plan is definitely flawed.”
