In fall 2006, Neal Sales-Griffin and a friend lived in a car for five days by the Rock in hopes of winning a Chevrolet Aveo.

Sales-Griffin’s stunt, which depended on getting more votes than students competing at other universities, didn’t succeed. But, the SESP junior says, it proves a point about his ability to bring campus together as he campaigns for Associated Student Government president.

“Being able to mobilize the entire university like that… ” he said. “Just imagine what (my team) will be able to do with the unifying student government on campus.”

Sales-Griffin, who has served as Institute for Student Business Education president, ASG senator and Ayers College of Commerce and Industry president, said he is running for ASG president because of what he sees as a lack of collaboration.

“The root issue is teamwork, or a lack thereof,” Sales-Griffin said. “We have to focus first on ASG and make sure that the culture is established and strong to move forward.”

His experience as a senator has qualified him to be president without making him sympathetic to ASG’s culture, he said.

“I am by no means institutionalized,” Sales-Griffin said. “It’s very important to have knowledge of an institution’s workings before running it, but it’s also important to have an outsider’s perspective.”

His individual policies, which focus on improving ASG transparency and accessibility while continuing to push for existing goals, matter less than his personal characteristics, Sales-Griffin said.

Judith Hsu, who succeeded Sales-Griffin as CCI president, said his dorm reputation was that of a “knowledgeable elder.”

“Even though he was a sophomore, he gave off the aura,” the Weinberg sophomore said. “A lot of freshmen looked up to him and (thought) that when he said something he knew what he was talking about.”

When Cody Raduha, Sales-Griffin’s campaign manager, and Sales-Griffin served on the ISBE Executive Board together, Sales-Griffin helped make the organization more responsive, she said.

“Neal worked really hard with our old vice president to come up with a leadership initiative,” the Communication sophomore said. “We took some of our more distant ISBE members and brought them together to work using their unique talents, because we couldn’t always see that from where we were.”

– MICHAEL GSOVSKI