Students elect five USG freshman senators

Tommy Gray	Tory Skinner	Gustavo Tavares	Morgan Franklin	Philip Krause
Hometown: Prairie Village, Kan	Hometown: Chatham, NJ	Hometown: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Hometown: Shreveport, LA	Hometown: Dartmouth, Mass.
Major: Gender & Sexuality Studies, Sociology, & Spanish	Major: Psychology	Major: Classics	Major: Political Science, Political Economy	Major: Public Health
Why I ran: I really love leadership & I thought it sounded like a good opportunity to learn about school & get involved.	Why I ran: I have a friend on the executive board who encouraged me to run because it’s a good way to have a say in what student government does. I like to have a say in things.	Why I ran: I think it’s fun to get stuff done & decide where & how money is spent on campus.	Why I ran: I was really involved in high school & I believe in what student government does & how it facilitates interaction between administration & students.	Why I ran: I wanted to be able to influence Tulane & have my opinions listened to.

Students elected five freshman senators to Tulane’s Undergraduate Student Government last week.

The new freshman senators are Philip Krause, Morgan Franklin, Tommy Gray, Tory Skinner and Gustavo Tavares. Twenty-four freshmen ran for five seats.

The senators used a variety of techniques to appeal to voters. Tommy Gray, a Hullabaloo staff writer who lives in Monroe, said his unique campaign strategy was instrumental to his success.

“I wrote ‘Vote for Tommy Gray’ across 14 windows in Monroe,” Gray said. “It was pretty unique and lots of people talked about it, so I think it helped me a lot.”

Candidates formed Facebook groups, put up flyers and posters, and encouraged word-of-mouth advertising to attract votes.

This year’s freshman election saw unusually high levels of interest. Because more than 120 freshmen expressed interest in running for USG Senate at the fall activities expo, USG chose to hold an information session for all interested freshmen.

“We held an info session, which was a first for us,” USG Executive Vice President Blandon David said. “It was based on the substantial interest we saw at the activities expo. From the info session we got 24 serious candidates.”

Forty-seven percent of students voted in the election, which is about average for freshman elections.

All five of the new senators attended Tuesday’s USG meeting, which took place at 7 p.m. in the Stibbs Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center. Tory Skinner, like most of the new senators, said she was surprised by the formality of the meeting, which involves parliamentary procedure.

“I was definitely surprised by the formality,” Skinner said. “It was truly legitimate. I think it shows that what we do here actually matters.”

All of the new senators said they ran for student government because they wanted to have a say in USG decisions.

“I ran because I wanted to be able to influence Tulane and I want to have my opinions listened to,” Krause said.

Franklin said she agreed.

“I believe in what student government does,” Franklin said. “It facilitates interaction between students and the administration and it gives us a voice.”
The new senators are expected to have an impact within USG, David said.

“We want to make sure they have a strong relationship with their constituents, not just going to their friends,” David said. “We expect two pieces of legislation from each of them this year, but they are all very passionate, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”