The ASWSU presidential candidates were interviewed by the election board at a meeting this Thursday in place of a general debate.

Senator Pro Tempore Tania Henriques and Senator Brian Kim are running unopposed for the positions of president and vice president, respectively. 

Both senators are currently juniors and have been a part of ASWSU for their entire time at WSU, with Henriques having served as both Pro Tempore and an All-Campus Senator and Kim having served as the Carson College of Business Senator.

Henriques said she wants to become ASWSU president so she can push for her initiatives regarding basic needs, transportation and domestic violence awareness on campus, as well as because she wants to continue her work as a member of ASWSU.

“We also want to bring representation and bring a diverse perspective to ASWSU,” she said.

Kim said he also has previous experience being deeply involved in ASWSU as the current internal chair and hopes to advocate for students further in his role if he is elected as vice president.

“We’re the voice of the students, so we want to ensure every voice is heard and every person on campus is represented,” he said. “I just want to push for that policy to make sure that everybody feels represented.”

If elected, Henriques said her top priorities as president next year will be addressing student issues such as housing, food insecurity and mental health as well as improving transportation and increasing domestic violence awareness on campus.

Henriques said Kim and herself recently attended Coug Day in Olympia to lobby for a bill that would put a rent cap on the annual increase for rent prices, which would help make housing more affordable for students.

They have also been in continuous communication with the Cougar Food Pantry to talk to them about ways to make themselves more known to students, she said. They also plan to promote mental health resources on campus, such as CAPS.

Henriques said Kim and herself hope to work with transportation services in order to obtain reduced or free parking for students in the parking garages during dead week and finals week.

“We’ve tried working with transportation in the past, but they’ve always been kind of hesitant to work with us,” Henriques said. “But I think something we can urge them on is that on the weekends parking is $1.75, so I think implementing that during dead week and finals week could be something that we can push for.”

In regards to domestic violence awareness, Henriques said she hopes to implement training at New Coug orientation so that all students can be aware of the issue and learn about resources that are offered on campus in case they are needed.

Henriques said while herself and Kim do not yet have any plan of action for the summer term, she is hoping to use the time to form strong connections and professional relationships with members of administration and transportation services in order to prepare for the next academic year.

The elections will begin at 12 a.m. March 5 and voting will end at 7 p.m. on March 6.