It's Time to VOTE!

The polls for this year's SGA elections are opening at 12:00 AM, and will run until 11:59 PM on Wednesday. There are a number of contested races for positions that have a lot of influence over how your student fees are spent and how policies are made at UMBC.

Information about all candidates is listed on the SGA website. Direct links to their official profiles are below.

President:

• Yasmin Karimian with running mate Jennifer Kent
  

Treasurer:

• Nikunj Divecha
• James McCauley
• Stefan Victor

Vice President for Student Organizations:

• Brian Frazee
• Paula McCusker

Finance Board:

• Emily Han
  
• Sekinah Hassan
  
• Tehmeena Hassan
  
• Nicholas Keller
  
• Adenike Orogade
  
• Christine Paul
  
• Lena Dewald

Senate:

• Juan Callazos
  
• Justin Donlan
  
• Surena Ebrahimi
• Mark Gradoni
  
• Stavros Halkias
  
• Sunaina Khandelwal
  
• Justin Lane
  
• Phuoc (Toby) Le
  
• Timothy Mantegna
  
• Matthew McNey
  
• Josh Michael
  
• Tae Oh
  
• Josh Paiva
  
• Michael Rakoski
  
• Simmi Singh
  
• Rahilla Tarfa
  
• Gavin Way

Additionally, a number of candidates have participated in interviews and debates. A full video of the debates has been made available here, while the WMBC radio interview can be downloaded here. Ongoing coverage of the election has been provided by The Retriever Weekly.

Also on the ballot is Referendum A, a proposal supported by SGA that is explained here.


Be sure to take a short amount of time over the next few days to log in to Blackboard and cast your vote!

Art Attack

When you walk around the UMBC campus you will notice that there is a great amount of positive energy being emitted from all the bright students on campus. I'm not being sarcastic. UMBC is a place where I have met some of the smartest, most talented young adults with aspiring hopes and dreams. However when walking around our academic oriented university my friend pointed out to me that 4 out of 5 conversations occurring revolve around one of the following: Biology, Chemistry, Math, Engineering, Physics. Not a soul to be heard about poetry or fine art. A possibility could be that I am hanging out with all science/engineering oriented majors. Another more plausible explanation is that UMBC is in dire need of an Art Attack. I mean as a science major myself, I'm not one to talk. But when was the last time you and your friends read and discussed a poem? How about literary novel that wasn't a part of your English assignment? When did you sit down and just let your mind flow with a pencil and your heart fill the paper; or computer as it is nowadays. I mean while many of us may make an effort to connect with modern art and culture, that may just be something you're not into, which is fine. All I'm saying is, with summer creeping up a lot of people are going to have free time on their hands. Instead of watching endless hours of mind-numbing television programs and youtube videos go and commit yourself to at least one book that interests you personally. Read it and think about it. Connect with your book of choice. I promise you it'll be worth it.