The first combined Student Association executive and senate elections will begin 9 a.m. Tuesday and end 6 p.m. Wednesday, with only five candidates running for four executive positions.

The purpose of the SA is to voice the concerns and questions of the student body to the university administration. The SA supports many campus events and activities through organizational funding which is allocated through the SA to various organizations on campus, according to its website.

Despite having record turnouts for the candidate meetings, with more than 60 people in attendance, only five students are running for executive positions.

Student trustee candidate Matthew Holmes, vice presidential candidate Rachel Jacob and treasurer candidate Brian Robinson are all running unopposed. The two candidates for president are Alex Forgue and Giuseppe LaGioia.

“The first night I was ecstatic when I saw that many people [at the candidates’ meeting], and when I heard the turnout for the second meeting and couple that with people coming to talk to [Election Commissioner Kevin Gordon], I was very excited,” said SA Senate Speaker Dillon Domke. “I thought we were going to have an awesome election this year, very competitive, but it turned out I was absolutely wrong.”

A survey was distributed directly to the approximately 65 people who came to the candidates meetings and aims to find out why the parties didn’t run, Domke said.

An executive candidate debate was held Thursday, in the Holmes Student Center, Heritage Room, where candidates presented statements and answered questions from the moderators, Gordon and Domke, and the audience.

President

Both candidates agreed on issues such as outreach to more organizations on campus, a potential move to the Big 12 Conference and disapproval of DeKalb’s proposed unlawful assembly ordinance, which would allow a police officer to break up a demonstration.

“A majority of the students don’t know what [SA] does and there is not enough outreach on [SA’s] part to get more students involved,” Forgue said. “The biggest issue is that a lot of people feel that the [SA] is mostly biased towards Greek life and a lot of students feel like they don’t have a voice on campus so that‘s why I’m running to be the voice of those students.”

Forgue said he will also focus on implementing gender neutral bathrooms and holding the administration accountable for reckless spending.

LaGioia said he hopes to continue the No Shame campaign, which focuses on eliminating stigma with mental health, and expand the Huskies Den to increase the availability of activities on weekends.

“[The] basis of our campaign is trying to empower the students to get them together as a student body so we can make the experience at NIU all that much better,” LaGioia said.

Vice president

Jacob said she hopes to communicate with the more than 300 student organizations on campus by setting up networking events and making herself readily available at all times.

“I don’t really believe that one organization should have dominance on campus and that one group should have a louder voice than others,” Jacob said.

Student trustee

Holmes said the main issues facing NIU are the budget impasse, dropping enrollment and program prioritization, and he hopes to work closely with the SA Senate and executive board to make sure students are represented on the Board of Trustees.

Treasurer

Robinson was not in attendance due to a sinus infection.