The campaigning for next year's USG offices officially kicks off this afternoon, with juniors Shaun Callaghan and Leslie-Bernard Joseph vying for the post of USG president.
Overall, 32 candidates will compete for 12 positions, with only one position unopposed. Last year, 26 candidates ran — eight of them for unopposed positions.
"It reflects a revived interest in USG," said Shoum Chakravarti '05, USG academics chair and election committee chair. "We've done a lot of good things this year, and people have noticed."
Chakravarti said he thinks this year represents a return to a normal level of participation in USG elections — a level he believes was low in last year's election after "an administration that honestly didn't do much."
Yet, this year there are just two presidential candidates, though there were six candidates last year.
"It's much different than it was last year," said USG President Matt Margolin '05. "It seems that a lot of the old issues like a 24-hour study space and Pequods have been addressed, and the campaign will deal with different things."
Margolin said he believes the main issue continues to be a disconnect between administrators and students.
"The power of the USG and the president is to voice real student concerns, and find out how to make these achievable issues happen," he said.
Callaghan has been a member of the USG since his freshman year and served as vice president this year.
"I think I'm best at building strong relationships with people," he added.
Callaghan said he plans to focus his campaign on creating a "better sense of community" and forming a closer relationship between the USG and students.
"We have to solicit more student opinion," Callaghan said.
Joseph ran for USG president last year — the only sophomore among five juniors.
He said he brings a wide range of experience to the USG — from involvement in music and theater to being president of the Black Student Union.
"The USG . . . should be an engine for change," Joseph said.
Both candidates for president said that they want to focus the USG on more important issues.
"I don't want to do housekeeping issues, like attendance policy reform," Callaghan said.
Joseph emphasized that the USG has not been taking on some of the most important issues.
"When you talk with your friends, you can talk about things that are wrong with Princeton," Joseph explained. "USG right now sees the problems, but it seems that they think [the problems] are too big for them."
Chakravarti said there would not be a candidate's forum this year because of previous low attendance and space constraints. Instead, the USG will post online candidate responses to questions posed to them. The questions will be developed by election managers working with student groups.
There will also be a presidential debate at 6 p.m. on Wednesday outside Café Viv in Frist Campus Center.
Will Benjamin '07, Jesse Creed '07, Freddy Flaxman '07 and Liz Gough '07 are running for vice president, while Meka Asonye '07 and Christina Kan '07 are running for treasurer. Robert Biederman '08, Ben Easter '07 and Robert Wai Wong '06 will compete to be academics chair, while Tom Brown '07 and Michael Davenport '06 are running for undergraduate life chair. Danielle Kennedy '07 and Carol Wang '07 are the candidates for campus and community chair.
Michael Murray is the only candidate for Class of 2006 senator, and John Boscia, Patrick Ekeruo, Alex Lenahan and Chris Willis will face off for Class of 2007 senator.
Brandon Bierlein, Luke Cohler, Bruce Halperin, Gabriel Ivey, Peter Jarow (a 'Prince' staff writer), David Kwasniewski, Matthew Martin, Nicole Ng, Andrea Pasinetti, Alexander Peters, Dave Uppal and Sunshine Yin are running for the position of Class of 2008 Senator.
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