Members of eMerge, a student-run political party campaigning for Central Student Government, kicked its campaign off with a meet-and-greet for interested students to learn more about the party’s core team members and platform.
eMerge’s core team took input from University of Michigan students about the goals of their party. Vice-presidential candidate Nadine Jawad, a Public Policy junior, and other candidates spoke with students about opportunities to run as a representative for the party, join the street team to campaign, or aid in coordinating events with other organizations.
“Today is an opportunity for students to learn about what we are trying to do and how they can get involved,” Jawad said. “We want to create a student government that allows students to emerge out of the crowd and into leadership roles.”
According to eMerge’s presidential candidate, LSA junior Anushka Sarkar, a main focus of the platform is breaking down the barriers that prevent students from becoming involved with student government.
“The purpose of eMerge is to create an organization that empowers students to rise up and be involved in issues and initiatives on campus that they’re passionate about or that affect them,” Sarkar said. “We see CSG as a platform for students to be involved in the things that they care about.”
eMerge has broken up its platform into advocacy plans and initiative plans. Initiative plans focus on easily completed projects such as extended campus Wi-Fi, improved bathroom facilities, and the installation of game-day hydration stations.
Their advocacy plans focus on long-term goals such as expanding in-state tuition to undocumented and non-traditional students and improved testing accommodation centers.
LSA junior Ryan Dishell attended the meet-and-greet to determine how he wanted to involve himself in CSG.
“I like that they have short-term goals and long-term goals; I think it’s really important for a platform to have a vision, but to also have a plan and tangible goals that students can get done,” Dishell said.
After leaving the meet-and-greet, LSA junior Kyla Klein said the party appeared to bring a new perspective to CSG.
“I was really interested in their stance on students with Medicaid using the services at Michigan,” Klein said. “I found their campaign really interesting and unique.”
Kinesiology sophomore Okpalefe Edevbie expressed similar views on the party’s platform. Edevbie is also a writer for the Daily.
“I think they’ve a lot of great plans to reach the different facets and groups in student government, and to create more access for students,” Edevbie said.
Currently, eMerge is running unopposed for the election on the March 22 and 23.