ASG Holds Meet the Candidates Event to Start off Election Week

(left to right) Ethan Pessoa Jinian ’29, Emerson Strub ’29, Addison Warhank ’28, Laura Da Costa Locatelli ’27, Bella Rene ’27, Mateo Coulson ’28 and Johnathan Amidi ’27 sit in Charney 106 during the Meet the Candidates event on Monday. Committee chair and current student body vice president Sophia Standard ’26 and vice president of public relations and election committee member Matthew Van Dyke ’26 stand behind the candidates. (Dylan Ryu/The Santa Clara)

Santa Clara University’s Associated Student Government hosted a Meet the Candidates event where president and vice president, senate chair and sophomore senator hopefuls had the opportunity to share more about themselves and their goals with the Santa Clara University community.

Presidential and vice presidential candidate duos include Mateo Coulson ’28 and Johnathan Amidi ’27, and in opposition Laura Da Costa Locatelli ’27 and Bella Rene ’27.

The sole runner for senate chair is Addison Warhank ’28. Sophomore senate chair candidates include Ethan Pessoa Jinian ’29 and Emerson Strub ’29.

For candidates running unopposed, positions will be appointed unless a violation occurs that leads to disqualification.

Laura Da Costa Locatelli and Bella Rene - President and VP Candidates

Current junior senators Da Costa Locatelli and Rene center their campaign on affordability, accessibility to ASG and advocating for marginalized students who may feel underrepresented on Santa Clara University’s campus.

The pair hopes to be able to make student government more visible, pledging actionable tasks such as frequent tabling in order to be a connection that the student body can turn to with problems.

“ASG can serve as a really important connection between the student body and the administration,” Rene said.

Drawing from their own experiences in underrepresented communities, including Da Costa Locatelli’s perspective as a first-generation Latina woman, the pair believes their backgrounds have prepared them to better understand and represent students whose voices are often overlooked. Their social connections with campus organizations as well as Greek life have also strengthened that commitment to building meaningful relationships and student awareness of ASG.

Throughout their campaign they are emphasizing the importance of compassion.

“Challenge the ideas, not the people behind them,” Da Costa said.

Affordability remains one of their platform’s central priorities with a particular emphasis on reducing financial burdens for students wherever possible.

One of their key initiatives in relation to that is the creation of a textbook exchange program run by ASG, allowing students to borrow or exchange textbooks through a deposit-based system.

Mateo Coulson and Johnathan Amidi - President and VP Candidates

Current sophomore senator Coulson and previous sophomore senator Amidi are looking to take their leadership experience to the next level as they campaign for student body president and vice president.

Running on the central goal of becoming friends and advocates for every student, Coulson and Amidi are focused on increasing empathy within the University community, consistently engaging with campus organizations and expanding educational opportunities for the student body.

Their campaign emphasizes going beyond the usual connection with student groups, and creating a consistent line of communication with them in order to hear their ideas and perspectives. By doing this they hope to address one of ASG’s biggest challenges, a lack of student engagement and connection.

Coulson and Amidi also spoke about the importance of disagreement and open dialogue within the senate and ASG.

“We need more disagreements, we need more differing opinions,” Amidi said when touching on how difficult conversations are necessary to create meaningful progress.

Their platform also includes bringing educational opportunities to campus, such as guest speaker events.

Addison Warhank - Senate Chair Candidate

With a year of experience under her belt, sophomore senator Warhank looks to step into a bigger role as she runs for senate chair uncontested. Warhank’s main goal is making sure everyone’s voices are heard.

“A lot of times, things like this are easy for everyone to take the easy route and agree just because sometimes it can be uncomfortable to go against the majority of the group,” Warhank said. “So just make sure that everyone’s voices are heard, and they feel comfortable contradicting the norm.”

In response to a lack of representation at University sporting events, one of Warhank’s goals would be to implement a point system to incentivize people to attend sporting events. She hopes this project will increase not only attendance at events, but also overall school spirit.

Warhank believes her previous year of experience will help her succeed in this role, as she has solid working relationships across the entirety of ASG and feels prepared to assume more responsibility.

“I feel ready to step up,” she said.

Ethan Pessoa Jinian - Sophomore Senator Candidate

Current first-year senator Jinian is seeking reelection with the goal of continuing his work to improve student life and ongoing issues in the community such as housing.

Motivated by his experience representing his class his first year on campus, Jinian hopes to continue building on what he has started by listening closely to student concerns and advocating for meaningful change.

A key part of his platform includes improving housing systems, specifically simplifying the housing application process to reduce student stress surrounding on-campus living arraignments.

Emerson Strub - Sophomore Senator Candidate

Strub, a current first-year senator, is running for re-election for her second year and focusing on addressing practical student concerns, particularly housing and dining issues, while making ASG more approachable.

Being involved in a wide range of campus groups, Emerson believes this exposure allows for stronger connections with diverse student communities, particularly regarding issues peers may feel more comfortable communicating to her rather than directly with University staff.

Among her goals is introducing a smoothie bar near Malley Center, alongside broader efforts to improve student life through campus.

Beyond the event itself, conversations with students across the University reveal a larger disconnect between the student body and ASG.

Ariana Barredo ’28, a marketing major in the Leavey School of Business, admitted she had never heard of ASG before being asked. Ellie Farrell ’28, a political science major in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she knew about ASG only vaguely and had no plans to vote.

Both students had concerns about the campus, ranging from limited parking for on-campus residents to high food prices at Benson Memorial Center and deteriorating bathroom conditions in classroom buildings.

“The bathrooms in all the facilities in the humanities buildings are decrepit,” said Farrell. “I literally gag when I walk in.”

“I think it can be a safety hazard for someone to have to walk a distance from their car late at night to their building, and considering that we are paying money to park, we should be able to park near the building that we live in,” said Barredo.

“I live in Casa, which has a lot that seems to have a lot of empty spaces, but for some reason, they were not able to give me a parking pass,” said Barredo.

“This year, I try not to eat at Benson as much because you get so much more bang for your buck at other stores,” said Farrell.

With awareness of ASG varying among students, the candidates for this year’s election hope their prioritization of approachability may help bridge the gap between the organization and the student body when it comes to addressing campus’ most important issues.