Before Monday night’s debate, Associated Student Government presidential candidate Vishal Patel had an important decision to make: What should he wear to address an audience dominated by student group leaders?

After consulting his official campaign hairstylist and clothing director, Weinberg freshman Claire Ruberg, he decided on jeans and a button-down shirt, a more casual appearance than the business suits some of his opponents presented.

“We thought I would go with a more homegrown look,” said Patel, a Weinberg sophomore. “It just gives me more of a connection with the people I’m talking to when I’m dressed the same as them.”

Connecting with students is what Patel said his campaign is all about.

Few students know what ASG or its president does, Patel said. He wants to change that by making the president’s job less of a professional politician role.

“Vishal is going to make the common student care about (ASG),” said Weinberg sophomore Eddie Fonner, Patel’s floormate and one of his two campaign managers.

As president, Patel said he would make ASG’s operations, such as its budget and spending, more transparent. He also would organize more events allowing students to interact with ASG and reform the election process for senate.

“Reform has to come down from the top,” Patel said.

Patel is embracing his status as an outsider candidate as advantageous for making change.

Instead of being involved in ASG, Patel served as this year’s vice-president of 1835 Hinman. He said dorm government has prepared him well to lead the student body.

“It’s a smaller version,” Patel said. “What kind of events work well for 200 are similar to those that work well for 8,000.”

Weinberg sophomore Dan Senger — Patel’s other campaign manager — said Patel proved his strength as a dorm government leader by rallying Hinman residents to take pride in their dorm.

In the entryway of Hinman, every resident Patel saw addressed him by name. He returned the greetings with smiles and high-fives.

“Anyone who lives in Hinman — if he sees them in a class or just walking, he’ll say hello to them,” said Communication freshman Daniel Bruhl, a Hinman resident.

Patel said his familiarity with Hinman residents puts him in-touch with students’ concerns.

“Hinman has a large enough population that it does represent a cross-section,” Patel said.

Patel’s other goals include getting wireless Internet access in dorms and residential colleges, and improving campus lighting and off-campus safety.

“He’s not a tool,” Senger said. “He just wants to make an epic change. Being ASG president is his way of doing something.”

Reach Francesca Jarosz at [email protected].