ASUCD Independents

Independents are candidates that run for ASUCD office but are not candidates on a slate. For instance, there were three Senators on the (Spring 2005) ASUCD Senate who ran and were elected as Independent candidates: Keith Shively, Avi Singh, and Eric Fox. Donald Cohen-Cutler and Adam Gerber are no longer ASUCD Senators but were Independents. Cohen-Cutler ran under the catch phrase "Break the Slate" and had lots of support while Gerber was not elected but rather appointed by the ASUCD President Kalen Gallagher to fill a vacancy on the ASUCD Senate. There are also senators who ran with a slate but either choose to disaffiliate with the slate (as with Ari Kalfayan from Student Focus, or Tiny Sanders from LEAD) or disband it all together (as in the case of Rob Roy and Kristen Birdsall with Friends Urging Campus Kindness).

Why run as an independent? Usually the candidates do so because it allows them more freedom as a senator. However, it is harder to get elected as an independent than as a member of a slate.

• Arie Van Gemeren
  

• Kirk Cowgill
  

• Joseph Bleckman
  

• Dustin Murray
  

• Rob Roy

• Senate
  

• Albert Parnell
  

• Laura Nevins
  

• Ronald Payne

• Executive
  

• Rob Roy and Arlen Abraham
  

• The purpose of their campaign, however, was to use their candidate statements to advertise slate candidates.

• Joe Chatham
  

• Edward Baraona

In the past there have been Independent tickets for ASUCD President and Vice President as well.

Ex-Senator Adam Barr offers this advice to independents:

"...their ineffective campaigns - or lack thereof - that caused them to fall to the bottom of the pack. I did not know who any of the independent candidates were until I saw their faces on the elections website, and I am a regular reader of The Aggie and a student leader. None of them took the time to come to any of my organization's meetings and few bothered to post fliers or chalk in classrooms...Future independent candidates should learn from the mistakes of their predecessors and launch a legitimate campaign at least two weeks before the election if they hope to have a decent chance at claiming a seat in our student government. You will not be elected if your campaign consists of sending out an e-mail announcement two days before the election with a request to contact you for more information. Let's be real." (source)