Along with prepping to be in the Navy, rapping part-time and managing a radio talk show, Luke Adams considers himself a “serious candidate” for ASG president.
“People think of me as a joke candidate, which just tells me that they’re jealous that they can’t come up with a better way to campaign,” the Weinberg junior said. Adams ran in last year’s ASG presidential election, but garnered only 3.5 percent of the student vote.
He said his main reason for running in the election is to give students a more diverse choice in candidates.
“I feel like the students need more of a choice and more of an outsider,” he said. “I’m really determined with my campaign, actually, and a lot of it is in response to the wasteful spending that is going on in ASG right now.”
Adams hopes to introduce a SafeRide-like service that uses bike riders as escorts, cut ASG’s excess spending on buses and shuttles and make ASG more accessible to the average student.
He added that he hopes to make the campaign process more fun.
“I like to see my approach as a more serpentine, windy path to the goal,” he said, “Because you can’t just do the same thing that everybody else is going to do.”
In terms of his plans for engaging students in his campaign, Adams said he has a few ideas in mind, including a surprise for students.
“We’re going to be building a giant ‘something’ that spreads the word about my campaign and we’re going to be publicizing on campus,” he said. “We haven’t hammered out when we’re going to do it.”
Adams is also planning to hold an Easter egg hunt this Sunday at the Rock with prizes and flyers inside the eggs.
Devon Pratt, Adams’ vice presidential candidate, has known him since the first day of their freshman year at Northwestern. Both candidates said they want to realign ASG with its original purpose.
“ASG stands for student government,” the Weinberg junior said. “It’s a club, something that every freshman becomes a member of, and I think that message has been forgotten. Luke brings invaluable personality and charisma to once again remember this and get the students’ voices heard.”
Craig Miller, like Adams a member of Sigma Chi, said Adams is a campus leader with a hand in many campus communities.
“Everyone loves his personality,” the McCormick senior said. “He’s involved in a lot of other things on campus. He touches all corners of the campus – he’s up in Tech and down on South Campus.”
Adams is in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and has been chosen as next year’s battalion commander for ROTC. After graduating next year, he will be an officer in the Navy. He also heads a radio drama show for WNUR and is a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.
Outside the NU community, Adams has an “alternate personality” of a rapper named Eljay. As Eljay, Adams dresses in a beanie, sunglasses and Marc Ecko clothing and performs songs that are available on iTunes. Adams said he plans to use Eljay as a part of his campaign.
“I’m going to restrict the Eljay stuff to on-stage things like the campaign open mic,” he said.
Adams said he hopes that an outsider’s perspective will make a substantial impact in this year’s election.
“I’m sort of the everyman,” he said. “I’ve tried to diversify my college experience as much as I can. I think what has added to my character is that I am much more relatable than the other candidates.”
Related: Guide to ASG candidatesVideo: Luke Adams and Devon Pratt: Candidate for ASG president and vice president
