ASUA presidential candidates discuss goals

By Christie S. Peterson

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Amidst a plethora of pummeling promises, a flood of faceless fliers, and a cornucopia of cranky constituents, another Associated Students election season has emerged.

Meet this year's candidates for ASUA President: Ben Driggs, Brad Milligan, and Ethan Orr. Each participated in UA student government this year, each wants to work to improve ASUA, and each wants to do so as president.

Driggs, a Latin American studies and economics double major, worked this year as Arizona Students' Association director, lobbying for students in the state Legislature and Arizona Board of Regents, where he was inspired to run for president.

In an incident last December, Driggs said he saw a bill he had worked hard to get passed by the board obliterated by a negative comment from the Arizona State University student president.

Aside from being "livid" with anger, he real-

ized that "what they really want to hear is what the student body president has to say," and decided to run for president himself.

If elected, Driggs said he will be lobbying for students, as before, but to faculty and administration instead of senators. The issues he has adopted include creating a statewide work-study program, improving on-campus career services by increasing internships, and reestablishing the ASUA scholarship fund.

Brad Milligan has been working in ASUA for three and a half years, during which he has experienced both the administrative and legislative branches of student government as a presidential aide, senator and senate chair.

He feels this "ample experience" will help him accomplish his goal of improving the function of ASUA.

"ASUA is a delicate organization, because it only works when everybody works together," he said.

If elected, another of Milligan's goals is to increase administrative accountability in areas such as core curriculum development.

"My basic goal," he said, "is to ensure their goals are met."

Milligan would also like to increase student knowledge of the UA Info system, which he said will simplify the processes of registration and scheduling.

The third candidate for president is Ethan Orr, a senator and resident assistant, who said that student interaction and leadership will be the keys of his presidency, if he wins.

In his second year as an undergraduate senator, Orr said he has "been able to progress as a true leader." He said he has been in leadership positions since the sixth grade and has used each position to learn all that he could.

The presidency is the next step in his plan because, he said, "The lasting changes I want to make in ASUA can only be made through the presidency."

The issues Orr is running on include ASUA reform, student concerns, and outreach programs all designed to involve more students in student government.

There will be a "Meet the Candidates" campus forum on Feb. 22 at which students will get to meet and interrogate the candidates themselves.

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