Voting starts April 13 at noon on CCC, and ends April 15 at 11:59 p.m.

The Ticket:

President:  William Bothe, Class of 2024

Vice President: Zach Sussman, Class of 2024

Experience: 

Will:

  • Secretary of the Cards Club
  • Involved in Chamber Orchestra
  • Member of Modern Languages and Culture Undergraduate Society
  • Member of Simulation Gaming Association

Zach:

  • Member of Presidential Advisory Council
  • Secretary of 2024 Class Council
  • Secretary of the Model United Nations
  • Member of Mock Trial
  • Member of Pre-Law Society
  • Beta Theta Pi brother
  • Involved in five music ensembles

Three proposals: 

  1. Quite often, international students may feel isolated, not included, or not welcomed.  We would like to introduce a possible way to help reduce these feelings for all students, but especially international students. UR Heard would be a one-credit (45 minutes or so per week with no homework), one semester pass/fail class that would be taken in a student’s freshman year. This class would be a safe space for all students, especially international students, to feel comfortable sharing their identities and their cultures in order to help each other feel more welcomed and included here on campus. We believe that if a student — especially an international student — is able to share their experiences in a safe space, then they may be able to feel less isolated and make additional connections with other students. This class may not be introduced and/or required starting with the Class of 2025, but hopefully soon after. We want to work with international student leaders to receive feedback on this possibility and then work with the entire community to ensure that this course can happen.
  2. Work with student leaders to ensure the best possible pathway to make these proposals come true. As William Bothe is a half-Chinese, Christian, domestic, cisgender male, and Zach Sussman is a white, Jewish, domestic, cisgender male, neither of us feel comfortable making decisions and policies that do not pertain to our race, ethnicity, or sexuality. With that said, we want to work constantly with student leaders of the aforementioned groups to advise us properly on what actions we should take to respond to an event or what needs need to be addressed in order to ensure that the members of the aforementioned groups can feel safe and welcomed here at the University of Rochester. We pledge to expand the Presidential Advisory Council to ensure that student leaders from all communities have their voices heard.
  3. Guaranteeing COVID-19 vaccine shots for incoming/remote international students who were unable to get one in their home country. The United States continues to vaccinate millions of individuals every day, and is expected to have vaccinated the majority of its population by this summer. However, across the world, there is an extreme vaccine shortage. Some students, especially those arriving from the Class of 2025, may not be able to get the vaccine by the time the fall semester begins. We believe that by mid-August, the University will be able to obtain enough shots to vaccinate those who were unable to get vaccinated in their home country. We believe that this course of action will be equitable and inclusive for our international students so they can feel comfortable and safe here on campus.  Here is a shortened version of our plan:
    • Upon arriving on campus, they will be sent to quarantine for four days, either in graduate housing or a nearby hotel. On their first day, they will promptly be tested, and then they will receive their first COVID-19 vaccine shot. After four days of quarantining, the student will be released to the rest of campus, as this way we can test again to ensure that they do not have COVID-19. However, this may vary depending on what health officials deem necessary. If the student got a vaccine that requires more than one dose, they will go to the medical center to receive their second dose when the time comes.

Links:

Instagram: @ur_freshperspectives

Zachary: Instagram @zach.sussman

William Bothe: @webothe15

Other candidate profile:

Sabeet Kazmi & Rusama Haque



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