Progressive Alliance endorsed Student Services Vice President candidate Leah Witt, Academic Vice President candidate Anna Xu, presidential candidate Jay Schumacher and Executive Vice President candidate Rishi Taparia, after deliberations Thursday night.

College Democrats, College Feminists, Students for Environmental and Ecological Development, Peace Project, Northwestern Community Development Corps, HIV AIDS Literacy Organization and the Rainbow Alliance participated in the endorsement debates.

Progressive Alliance praised students who had shown a commitment to progressive causes and criticized those they thought were not.

“(The AVP candidates) all seemed ill-informed about the nature of their position, and their answers addressed student services, not academic solutions to our questions,” Jessica Joslin, the debate moderator, said in a press release.

Progressive Alliance also expressed doubt about SSVP candidate Adi Shankar, saying it was excited about an outside candidate but found Shankar’s performance disappointing.

“He was ignorant of the issues important to our groups and did not seem interested in learning,” Joslin said. “We are concerned about his ability to work with the administration and student leaders.”

Progressive Alliance cited Schumacher’s work with various groups in the Alliance and Taparia’s responsiveness and willingness to learn as reasons for their endorsements.

Progressive Alliance praised Witt for advocating health services issues and wanting to expand diversity programming beyond Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. However, they cautioned her in the press release against “unrealistic” ideas.

Xu was chosen for previous work with the Progressive Alliance and for supporting a Peace Studies program, according to the press release.

Reach Libby Nelson at [email protected].