Kate Greer (right), a third-year in history and German, and Julia Dennen (left), a third-year in public affairs, are running for USG president and vice-president. Credit: Courtesy of Greer-Dennen Campaign
Undergraduate Student Government campaigns have begun with one team officially appearing on the ballot.
Kate Greer, a third-year in history and German, and Julia Dennen, a third-year in public affairs, are running for president and vice president of USG, respectively, along with a slate of senators representing the various colleges and living areas on campus. The Greer-Dennen campaign is the only official team on the ballot.
Greer and Dennen centered their campaign on the slogan “Make it happen,” meaning that the potential administration can make change happen for the students, and the students can be inspired to do it for themselves, Dennen said.
“No one is going to use their voice the way you use your own,” Dennen said.
The campaign also chose a megaphone decorated with paths from the Oval as its logo because the team wants to amplify the voices of students, and the Oval paths were created by students before the university paved them, Dennen said.
Both Greer and Dennen have been with USG since their freshman years through involvement in various committees and projects. Dennen served as the director of the governmental relations committee this past year, and Greer chaired the Undergraduate Caucus of University Senate, according to their campaign website.
If Greer and Dennen are elected, they said that the most immediate priorities from their platform are affordability, inclusive excellence and mental wellness, Greer said.
“Those are three overarching areas that encompass so much of what happens here,” Greer said.
In terms of affordability, Greer said she believes that students should not have to choose between buying books and buying groceries. Dennen said that this issue was personally important due to her personal background as an out-of-state student paying her own way.
“I firmly believe affordability is the No. 1 issue on a college campus, and it’s something I will never stop advocating for,” Dennen said.
The team emphasized its position on inclusivity by naming interfaith prayer spaces, inclusive housing and diversity in enrollment as key parts of its platform.
Greer said that mental health is brought up in almost every conversation she has had with faculty on campus right now.
“If we can make a partnership with Apple, I’m pretty sure that we can make partnerships with different psychological services around Columbus,” Greer said.
Greer and Dennen’s entire policy platform encompasses minimizing barriers to affordability, strengthening diverse initiatives, reinforcing diverse spaces, encouraging student-focused teaching and enhancing academic resource offerings. It will also focus on inspiring universal civic engagement, ensuring exceptional quality of student life, progressing health and safety assets, im
plementing best mental health practices, and identifying and organizing sustainability goals and priorities.
Although the Greer-Dennen campaign is the only team officially on the ballot, Brandon Borgemenke, a third-year in history, and Max Rosenberg, a third-year in political science, are running as write-in candidates for USG president and vice president.
“We are running to bring common sense and accountability to a student organization that for too long has been mired as in the bureaucratic ambivalence of undergraduates,” their campaign website says.
Borgemenke and Rosenberg are running on four policy points: furthering regional campus outreach, promoting comprehensive mental health awareness initiatives, restructuring first-year student experience and reviewing Ohio State’s long-term strategic plan.
Greer and Dennen will hold a town hall to field questions from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday p.m. in the U.S Bank Conference Theater at the Ohio Union.
