IUSA ticket profile: RED HOT

For Red Hot presidential candidate and junior Lenny Weiss, next week's IU Student Association election is not only a perfect way to make changes at the University, but it's also a good way to have fun and meet people.\n"We're real people that want to be friends with the students and not act aloof ..." Weiss said. "We're not any better than them. Our responsibility is to be on their side and to be people they'd want to be with."\nAnd to get on the students' side, Red Hot is promoting a platform it says includes issues students are concerned about.\n"We're a team of regular students," said junior Steve Coulis, Red Hot campaign manager. "We understand issues that face regular students. (We want to) bring forth implementable ideas that can change campus."\nVice president of administration candidate and junior Brett Stewart agreed, saying Red Hot is taking a realistic and legitimate approach to IUSA. Stewart criticized opponent Hoosier's proposal to bring Ruckus, a downloading program, to IU.\n"We like to have fun, but we have serious issues that are implementable," he said. "We're not running on creating a downloading program that's just not good."\nInstead, according to a Red Hot press release, the ticket is running on three "W's": Wheels, Wireless and Weekends.\n"Wheels" suggests Red Hot's wish to rework the campus bus system; "Wireless" signifies expanding the University wireless network to cover residence halls; and "Weekends" implies Red Hot's desire to decrease drunk driving and increase safety on campus.\nRed Hot members said they recognize that their "Weekends" ideas, which include more drunk buses, dollar cabs and an improved safety escort service, are going to cost money. Treasurer candidate Scott Ottenheimer said Red Hot is looking for sponsors to subsidize costs.\nOne sponsor Red Hot already has is the Bluebird. Every Wednesday and Friday, Red Hot raises money by throwing parties at the Bluebird.\nWeiss said the Red Hot campaign includes students from all around campus and all different disciplines.\n"Congress brings people from different residential areas," he said. "The executive slate hails from the arts, sciences, business and political science. Though this is a government job, it's dealing with a school that has all kinds of interests, not a select few."\nWhile Weiss said the campaign includes people who have been involved with student government in the past -- Stewart is currently IUSA director of legislative relations -- he himself has not.\nWeiss, a biology major, said his experience comes from serving as chair of the Foster Quad judicial board his freshman year and serving as an executive member of Alpha Epsilon Pi. Additionally, he participated in speech and debate in high school.\nStewart said it doesn't matter that the members of his ticket aren't politically minded.\n"We're so good at being students," he said. "We don't mask ourselves as politicians acting as students"