Action ticket announces IUSA candidacy

The IU Student Association election season is starting up again with students forming tickets and recruiting others to join them. The Action ticket, led by IUSA presidential candidate Laura Walda, said she hopes that their diversity will appeal to students on campus.\n"We want the students to talk to us, and we are listening," said Walda, a junior. "The best thing about Action is our diversity. It's our strongest attribute."\nBesides being a member of IUSA Congress, Walda has served as an honors advisory board member and as vice president of IU College Democrats.\n"She has so much background. She's the perfect candidate for our party," said junior Liz Weikes, Action ticket candidate for vice president. Weikes, currently the IUSA Congressional Speaker of the House, believes IUSA's main responsibility is to the students' needs.\n"It is our responsibility to support the students, advocate for the students, and give back to the students," Weikes said. "Everything else should be secondary."\nRemaining executive candidates for the Action ticket are sophomore Sam Patel for congressional secretary and senior Eric Butterbaugh for treasurer. \nPatel has acted as the assistant director for the Student Judicial Program, and served as an off-campus representative in the IUSA congress. Butterbaugh, a Wells scholar, currently holds a greek seat in IUSA. As a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, he received the 2002 Greek Man of the Year award and represented his fraternity in Little 500.\nRich in campus experience, Action supporters believe they are the most qualified to act as the link between the students and administration.\n"We need to know what the students want, what is feasible in the eyes of the administration, and to find a common ground between them," Butterbaugh said.\nInstead of a campaign focused on one or two issues, Action is maintaining their "diversity" platform, hoping to accomplish many things for IU students in the next year. First, they would like to establish a landlord review for all potential renters on campus.\n"We feel that landlords are taking advantage of students in Bloomington," Weikes said.\nAction's program would call for the invitation of local landlords to campus to give advice to potential renters and also to create public brochures to aid students attempting to find suitable housing.\n"When I moved out of the dorms as a sophomore, I had no idea where to look," Patel said. "Students need to be better informed of housing opportunities."\nAction also wants to address student-ticketing issues for athletic events. In addition to addressing the basketball ticket package incident, in which students' 10-game ticket packages were cut to six or seven games, Action hopes to attain better seating for students at athletic events.\n"There is no reason for students to go to a football game if they have to sit in the end zone," Walda said.\nAction believes students should have more input as to where they sit and how those seats are allocated.\nGreek issues are also a concern of the Action ticket. However, they believe the first step is to create better communication.\n"It is not our place to intrude on the procedures of the greek community," Butterbaugh said. "What we want is for greeks and to tell us what we can do for them."\nOther goals of the Action ticket are to create a book exchange among students and to give more money back to the student body.\n"We want to create 10 new scholarships of about $2,500 each," Walda said. "It is completely feasible for us to do this."\nOverall, the Action ticket believes the diversity of their ticket and the enthusiasm of their candidates make their ticket the best on the ballot.\n"I really hope everyone takes this opportunity to speak out," Butterbaugh said. "If you've ever had a problem with the University, here's your chance to try to change things. I guarantee that if you approach any ticket, not just ours, they'll listen to what you have to say and act on it"