We are ONE

Many things separate IU students and make us different. We have students from every state in the United States and from countries around the world. Forty-four percent of us are from somewhere other than Indiana. Nearly 8 percent of us are minorities. Four thousand of us have travelled from another country to study here at IU.

Despite our differences, we are one student body. We are one university.

We founded the ONE University ticket on the idea that students of every background should have the opportunity to represent the student body in their government. After all, how can a government that doesn’t accurately represent the people speak for them?

Every year, voters are told to support a ticket based on the group with whom they affiliate. In the past, there have been greek tickets versus anti-greek tickets, Kelley tickets versus College of Arts and Sciences tickets and IUSA incumbents versus political newcomers. International students and graduate students are usually marginalized, or worse, used as tokens.

When we began the long process of selecting our executives, we sought to give a voice to a variety of spheres on campus and to defy the history of the IUSA. Our president is a sitting IUSA senator, a law student from northwest Indiana and a proud graduate of IU. Our vice president began his career as an international student in the Kelley School and rose to the rank of president of Sigma Chi. Our vice president of congress is a J-Schooler from the north side of Chicago and president of Tri-Delt. Our treasurer is only a sophomore, and yet his trip from New Jersey to Bloomington has already led him to found his own company and the Kelley Global Investment Fund.

Our platform is simple in design and broad in scope. We didn’t go through a process of deciding which issues were below the capacity of the IUSA. Student government shouldn’t be in the business of saying what we can’t change. It should seek to improve life for all students, from the day they first walk onto campus to the moment they pick up their diplomas – no matter what opposition stands in the way.

We believe that student rights are supreme, and we are prepared to take that fight to the highest offices in Bloomington. We believe that we’ve paid for great technology and facilities and that we ought to be able to use them without paying anything extra. We believe that community service is what sets IU students apart and that the student government should assist any group wanting to be charitable. We believe that Bloomington is the most beautiful campus in the United States and that we have a responsibility to keep it green. And we believe that we could all use a little more transparency because students have a right to know what affects them.

If you believe these things, then you, too, are part of ONE University.

We want to bring students a different kind of IUSA. With your help on election day, we can achieve that goal.