Peter Petrin
Student body president candidate
Junior
Political science major
SGA senator
Huntington News: Why did you choose to run for student body president?
Peter Petrin: I think the big themes we have with this campaign are communication and representation. I know that as a student on this campus for the past three years, I have never truly felt represented by the student government except when I’m in the student government. I was never asked my opinion and I think that’s important that that be the top priority of what the senate does because the student government serves as the voice of the student body and how can you know what the voice of the student body is unless you know what they’re saying?
HN: Where did the idea of “Unleash Northeastern” come from?
PP: It came from that concept that with the system that we have now, the students are held back and that’s a good parallel for both how the student government operates and how the university operates, specifically within the context of student life. We want students to be able to pursue their dreams. That’s what Northeastern is all about, to try to think outside the box, to pursue new opportunities, new options, explore new paths and there are policies at the university that are keeping students from doing that, from unleashing their full potential.
HN: What is the biggest issue you plan to focus on, if elected?
PP: Representation and communication. Just to reiterate that. I think that until the student government fundamentally deals with the fact that students don’t feel represented by the association, all of the good work that they do for the student body will go unrecognized, go unrealized and will leave students behind.
HN: What is your opinion regarding low voter turnout, something that is often criticized by students?
PP: I think it makes sense that people aren’t voting because they’re voting for someone who represents them, and that’s the whole point of representative elections is that concept of finding that person that shares your values, your ideals and will not just speak for you but speak with you. And that’s not an option available to students right now, so they don’t get engaged.
HN: How have the debates gone so far?
PP: I think there is an incredible concern that these debates aren’t reaching the people that we’re trying to talk to. The same people, for the most part, were at both debates: Senators from either campaign, elections chair members and the moderators. And that’s an issue. So I think the conversation is good but I don’t think the conversation is reaching the ears of the people that need to hear it.
Chris LaColla
Student body president candidate
Middler
Industrial engineering major
SGA Finance Board student-at-large
Huntington News: How did you get involved with SGA?
Chris LaColla: Well, I got involved with SGA around January, I believe, my sophomore year … I found someone who knew something about it and they directed me to the website for the finance board and I saw that they had seats called student-at-large seats, for just general student members. They don’t have to be senators. They don’t have to be involved with SGA, so I applied for one of those seats and … I was nominated and confirmed and so I’ve been sitting on the finance board as a student-at-large ever since.
HN: Why did you decide to run for president?
CL: Well I think what really encouraged me or, I guess, more inspired me to run is that being a student-at-large is kind of a weird thing on the finance board. It’s like this weird middle ground between being a part of the whole SGA world and being a part of the whole student body world … I feel like I bring kind of a unique perspective that candidates never really have. It’s kind of this outsider’s perspective of what the student body actually wants and without dealing with the whole mindset SGA currently has and being caught up in that.
HN: What are the biggest goals you hope to accomplish as president, if elected?
CL: What I hope to accomplish is to make SGA … look completely different by the end of my term. I can see that students have opinions they want to voice and it seems like SGA doesn’t exist as a vehicle for those voices to be heard. There’s this contracting process that groups have to go through when they want to bring outside vendors or performers in and it’s been a problem recently because it’s a very long process. So they brought it up at the debate … and something that Peter said that I was very surprised to hear was he said that he would hire more people to review the contracts and he would lower the insurance requirements that Northeastern has for these groups. And neither of those things are in the power of SGA. I just want to be as upfront and honest about SGA and what we do, because we do a lot of good work and we do a lot of good advocacy work, but I think that the students tend to disengage with SGA and not necessarily want be a part of it because people are saying these things and making these promises that are just absurd.
HN: How do you plan on advertising your campaign?
CL: I’m really passionate about environmental issues. So when I went into this campaign I’ve been really trying to … take my time when I make these decisions so that I can really make sure that my campaign makes sense in terms of sustainability. So I’m doing a lot of word of mouth right now, doing a lot of Internet campaigning. I’m working to spread my message, and I think that it’s something that’s coming out a little bit more through the debates and talking to student groups.
HN: Why did you decide to run without a running mate?
CL: I just don’t think I found the right running mate. I feel like it would dilute my message. The existing EVP candidates are both again, very much involved with SGA. You know, Terry is great, but he’s the chief of staff of SGA. He’s been a senator. Nick is the same way. He was on the finance board with me but he has also been a senator for a long time so I feel like it would kind of take away from the message I’m trying to bring of this real student voice into the SGA and willing to completely change how SGA is run, by bringing someone who is really entrenched into the organization like any of the three other candidates.
Terry MacCormack
Executive vice president candidate
Sophomore
Political science major
SGA Chief of Staff
Huntington News: Why did you decide to run for EVP?
Terry MacCormack: I genuinely want to make SGA a better facilitator for student’s ideas becoming a reality. I think that personally I have the work ethic, the experience in SGA and outside of SGA and the ideas that this position needs right now.
HN: Could you speak about the issue all four candidates had with getting the necessary number of signatures?
TM: We were supposed to get to 322 signatures, which is two percent of the undergraduate student body. There was some confusion in terms of what to do if a student didn’t know their NU ID, the last four digits, which is one of the required fields on that form. I don’t think anyone really deserves blame in that, I think it’s just the process could have been more clearly defined from earlier on but again, I’m not harping on that.
HN: Do you endorse either candidate for president?
TM: No, I don’t. I don’t think it’s my role as a candidate for EVP, who’s not running on a slate, to tell anyone who to vote for. I think both candidates running for president have some really good ideas.
HN: What is your opinion regarding low debate attendance?
TM: I think outdoor debates are a lot better for attendance because you get people passing by and things like that. I wish that we had been able to do that. I don’t think it’s a huge problem with the job that the elections committee has been doing. I’m not going to say that they’ve been doing a good job or a bad job, I just think that it was the location, and some of that was events and some of that was luck.
HN: Peter Petrin and Nick Naraghi’s “Unleash Northeastern” campaign was called one of the most ambitious campaigns in recent history during the EVP debate. How do you plan to compete and how confident are you that you will be elected?
TM: In terms of “Unleash Northeastern,” … “most ambitious in the past several years,” I don’t know if that’s the kind of blanket statement that is accurate. I think a lot of what they’re saying is pretty good, but I think a lot of what they’re saying is, quite simply, SGA doing this, we need to continue it, which is, I don’t really think, really too indicative of anything that is overly ambitious.
HN: Why should a student vote for you over Nick Naraghi?
TM: I think because first of all, you can trust me to commit to something and stay committed to it. Whether you can say the same for my opponent, I’m not there to judge but I’ll just lay that out there. I think I have the experience in terms of SGA and outside of SGA to both understand how the whole system works and how we get things done and logistically, but also externally understanding what the average student thinks of SGA and how we need to change that perception.
Nick Naraghi
Executive vice president candidate
Sophomore
Computer science and finance major
SGA senator
Huntington News: How did you get involved with SGA?
Nick Naraghi: So right off the bat when I came to Northeastern, I decided that it would be a good idea to get involved and I sort of tried as many different things as I could. Student government was one of those things and it was one of the things that I ended up sticking with. No aspirations right when I got to school but as a freshman I joined my first week and, oddly enough, Terry MacCormack was in my dorm and joined with me and I’ve known him ever since then.
HN: What will be your main focus if elected?
NN: The number one priority is to communicate with all of the students. Something that the student government hasn’t really done well in the past is make sure that we’re representing well all of the students that we’re supposed to be talking to.
HN: Why did you decide to run with Peter in particular?
NN: We work really well together. He has strengths that complement my own and as a team we do a pretty good job of not only advocating and just talking to students in general but making sure that we are doing the things we need to be doing in senate.
HN: What do you think your biggest challenge will be as EVP?
NN: Obviously communicating with 16,000 people, especially when there’s not one medium to do it with, is a difficult challenge.
HN: How confident are you that you and Pete will win?
NN: As of right now, I’m pretty confident that we’re going to win – knock on wood – but we’re just going to keep going all the way until voting starts and then we’re going to triple our efforts when voting starts and make sure as many students are voting as possible.
HN: How do you think you did in the EVP debate?
NN: It went really well. I’ve never done a debate in public like that, so it was a new experience for me, but I felt like I did really well. Terry and I kept it interesting. It wasn’t too dry. We didn’t agree on too many things, but it was fun. It was a good time. I always wish that the attendance at those events would be more from just the general student body though.
– By Melissa Werthmann, News Staff
