Rob Ranley Rob Ranley looks beyond the big picture, he said.

The Student Government Association (SGA) presidential candidate prefers instead to look at a problem “backwards” by first deciding what result he wants and then deciding how to get it, he said in an interview with The News.

“It’s important to look at the big picture, but it’s more important to have a plan of action and know how you’re going to get there,” he said.

Students can expect less bark and more bite from Ranley, he said, than past student leaders who have made big promises to students they can’t keep. Ranley, a junior finance major, attributes his realistic perspective to his years spent as SGA vice president for financial affairs, chair of the Budget Review Committee (BRC) and president of Northeastern’s Kappa Sigma fraternity chapter.

“It really gives me an advantage,” Ranley said of his presidency of Kappa Sigma last year. “The first four months of being president, it took me so much time to sort things out and figure out how things work, like how to create a leadership team. I think that’s one of the advantages I have is that I have that experience.”

Despite his ties to the organization, he said he does not feel “at all” that his relationship with the fraternity will cause a conflict of interest for him as SGA president.

Ranley was at the helm of the fraternity chapter last year when it was put on probation by the Greek Executive Council for its involvement in an off-campus party that resulted in eight students, including Ranley, to be summonsed to district court, and more than 80 Northeastern students being reported to the Office of Student Code and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).

The position had traditionally been a year-long spot, but at the end of what had been a turbulent semester for the organization, fraternity members voted to reduce it to a single semester, paving the way for Ranley, who was facing OSCCR charges, to decide not to run again rather than issue a letter of resignation.

William Bruen, who succeded Ranley in the position, said at the time he was certain Ranley based his decision on “what he felt was best for the chapter as a whole.”

Though Ranley is now again a presidential hopeful, he did not have aspirations to hold that office until recently, he said. “It was something I never really thought about until probably earlier this spring, like probably around January,” he said. “I was assuming this whole time that after this year I would be too tired, but the more I’ve been working the more I love it.” Ranley’s commitment to SGA and his desire to lead it stems from his first-hand experience as chairman of the BRC this year, he said, where he spent much time reforming how the SGA subcommittee allocates money.

“I’ve done so much work in my specific area,” he said. “I’ve seen how great an effect it’s had on the whole organization and how people view the work that we do. I want to continue that on a much bigger scale for next year.”

– by Anne Baker, News Staff

Marines Piney

Ever since arriving at Northeastern from New Jersey three years ago, Marines Piney has had lofty goals.

As one of the candidates in the upcoming Student Government Association (SGA) presidential elections, Piney said she has thought about the presidency since she first became part of the organization.

“A part of me has always wanted to be president from the moment I joined, and I think now is my opportunity to take advantage of that,” Piney said.

She said that when applying to colleges, she felt a “big pull” to Boston, and Northeastern more specifically.

“I think that Northeastern offered me a lot more opportunity than any other university I applied to, and I really wanted to take advantage of that,” she said.

Piney, the current SGA vice president for student affairs, has participated in student government since high school. After college, she hopes to attend law school to become a corporate lawyer and eventually find her way into politics, she said.

Piney is double majoring in history and political science, is involved in the Latin American Student Organization and is a Kappa Delta sister. Piney said her time isn’t limited to student government, which she said will prove an advantage in her campaign.

“I’ve had exposure to a greater, diverse pool of students. I’ve built my network up to get to know a lot of students leaders