On Monday evening, the Election Commission announced candidates for the 2010 Georgetown University Student Association presidential election, to be held on Feb. 23.

Calen Angert (MSB ’11) and Jason Kluger (MSB ’11), current GUSA president and vice president, are running for re-election against contenders Matt Wagner (SFS ’11) and Emmanuel Hampton (COL ’11), Hillary Dang (SFS ’12) and Katie Balloch (COL ’12), Brian Roscitt (MSB ’11) and William McGeehin (MSB ’11), and Arman Ismail (COL ’11) and Tucker Stafford (COL ’12).

Angert and Kluger are running on a platform centered on campus and social life, student safety and student space, such as revamping the GUSA Fellows Program, supporting the Diversity and Unity Initiative working groups, altering the Student Code of Conduct, and advocating for more late-night study spaces and power strips in Lauinger Library.

“We still think there’s a lot to be done and we can be the ones to do it. I think we’ve got a great set of new ideas and we are continuing the `new GUSA’ . by pushing away the politics of it all. . We’re here for the students,” Angert said.

Angert also stressed his re-election campaign’s support of the GUSA Fund, a hallmark of their first bid for the GUSA Executive last year. To opponents of such a fund, Angert said, “I challenge them to do what we have done in this past year.”

The GUSA Fund – a source of student activities funding separate from the Funding Board – was established in a GUSA senate vote in November. The senate passed major funding reform legislation Monday evening granting GUSA chief oversight of the club funding process.

Wagner, a two-term GUSA senator and former chair of both the GUSA Academic Affairs Committee and the Finance and Appropriations Committee, returned to campus this semester after studying abroad in Amman, Jordan, in the fall. Hampton is a former GUSA senator and Academic Affairs Committee chair who stepped down after a call for resignation due to his absences from senate meetings last semester, which Wagner attributed to financial difficulties. According to Wagner, he and Hampton are contending for the GUSA Executive on a platform opposing the GUSA Fund, supporting an increased arts presence on campus and changing the write-up policy for students. Wagner said they also plan to increase both club sports space and pay for Department of Public Safety officers.

Wagner vehemently opposes the GUSA Fund and the latest funding reform passed Monday, citing a lack of foresight.

“While reform was definitely necessary, this one is dangerous and volatile,” Wagner said, referencing his opinion of GUSA’s financial expertise and high turnover rate in GUSA senate membership.

Wagner said that Angert and Kluger supported this bill without the requisite experience or knowledge, adding that they had never been directly involved with the funding process.

“We are running because we believe our ideas will resonate with students. We target problems that actually exist instead of ones that don’t,” Wagner said.

Ismail is the current GUSA senator for Reynolds Hall and had previously led an effort in the GUSA senate to eliminate the rat presence on campus. According to Ismail and Stafford’s campaign Facebook group, the candidates hope to, “Make GUSA more accessible and transparent in order to involve more of the student body in the important decisions that affect life on campus.” Ismail and Stafford’s platform includes calls for the creation of a more supportive environment at Georgetown for the LBGTQ community, for students who have unique eating needs and for expanded wheelchair access. They also hope to allow for rollover meals at O’Donovan Hall.

According to the Facebook group for the Dang-Balloch ticket, the pair hopes to “ensure and establish a clear, defined hierarchy of student-led organizations to make collaboration between student organizations more efficient.” The candidates seek to reform SafeRides, improve environmental sustainability on the Georgetown campus, continue implementation of GUSA funding reform, and expand the programs offered at the Career Education Center, according to the Facebook group.

Campaigning began at 12:01 a.m. today, with the launch of Web sites for both the Angert-Kluger and Wagner-Hampton campaigns. As of press time, flyers were posted for the Wagner-Hampton campaign in the Leavey Center.

Roscitt and McGeehin could not be reached for comment at press time.

*The Hoya will publish an in-depth analysis of the candidates in an upcoming issue.*”