It’s that time of year again where Student Government is a full force on campus focusing primarily on one thing—campaigning.

This year, there will be three main parties students can run for—Red Party, Forward Party, and Howard Party.

The Red Party has been on campus since 2003. Their party stands for Results, Experience, and Dedication. Previous Student Body President Samantha Mims won her campaign under the Red Party, and the current Student Body President Thomas Beaucham is the party’s chair.

The Red Party will publish their platform on their Facebook page, but platforms in the past have included campus lighting, a farmer’s market day, advocating for increased Bright Futures funding, student rewards program and a Greek housing feasibility study.

The Forward Party, established during the summer semester, is promoting a platform that includes a syllabus bank, a dog park, more seating with shade, better wifi, hygiene product vending machines, and an arts and culture council. The platform has increased since the founding of the party.

The biggest addition to their platform is the addition of a mobile Osprey1Card. This would mean students could get into the library by scanning their phones instead of looking into their bags for their student ID.

“We really just want to increase the diversity of student government,” John Aloszka, Forward Party chair, said. “We want to make sure all walks of life are represented in Senate. That not only includes race and gender, but also major.”

The Howard Party is the newest SG party on campus. Their name comes from the well-known white duck seen around the Cafe.

Michael Wilson, a candidate for the Howard Party, stated the Howard Party just wants to improve the existing SG setting.

“Our whole policy is to create student government that works more for the students by having shared information between the students and student government, and more transparency and more accessibility,” Wilson said.

According to Wilson, the Howard Party wants to focus on creating new positions in SG such as web designer, and creating more opportunities for communication by having a bi-monthly cookout on the Green.

Candidates for each party will declare their intent on Feb. 13. Candidates can start campaigning on Feb. 21. The Presidential Debate will be Feb. 22.

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