Elections for Associated Student Government commenced Tuesday, April 1. Students can vote in-person between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. in Cremer and Visser halls as well as the Union or online via Hornet Central. Voting will close on Thursday, April 3. 

Incumbent president Azwad Arif is seeking reelection with vice presidential candidate Josh Manahan, a current senator, as his running mate. Senator and Fiscal Affairs Chair Joel Franz and Senator Hailey Gant are running in opposition as president and vice president respectively. This is the first year that ASG presidential and vice presidential tickets have been contested since 2017.

Candidates spoke with The Bulletin about how they will lead at Emporia State if elected.

Why are you running as president of Associated Student Government? 

Arif: I am running because I believe in the power of meaningful dialogue — conversations that challenge us, bring different perspectives together, and ultimately lead to impactful change. Through my experience in Student Government and my interactions with ESU’s faculty and staff, I’ve seen firsthand how collaboration, even amid disagreements, can elevate our university. My goal is to strengthen this culture both within ASG and across campus by addressing student concerns head-on, fostering leadership development, and inspiring greater student Involvement and investment in ESU’s future.

Franz: I am running for President of Associated Student Government as I believe in the power of student leadership and empowering our RSOs through positive actions. We also believe that when we empower our student body, serve its needs with integrity, and unite diverse voices, we can create a campus where everyone thrives. I have also personally experienced and listened to other senators and staff on ASG communicate the need for change in areas that would benefit the students to have less fees, RSOs to have simpler processes, and senators to have better communication lines that our Student Government has not had this past year.

How will you ensure students have access to resources they need in order to be fulfilled and successful during their time at ESU?

Manahan: First off I would like to say that I am always looking to expand my knowledge, you don’t know what you don’t know, I plan to listen to Emporia State students, ensuring that I am hearing all concerns on campus that creates an inability for success amongst our students. I plan on having qr codes around campus, so that students can leave their concerns inside, which will personally be addressed by Azwad and myself. I also want to ensure that on our ASG page, as well as on the revamped Hornet Central, we have links to meet with whomever would be best to help a student through any situation. Once we understand the concerns and problems within our university, ensuring that we have effective and timely communication with the relevant staff is key to seeing the promised change. Weekly meetings with ESU decision makers, as well as bi-weekly to monthly meetings with deans to address these concerns and play an active part of the reconciliation of the particular problem facing Emporia State. Whether that be addressing the high prices international students face to be picked up from the airport, creating NIL opportunities for our athletes, creating student discounts through our communities, ensuring a job list of community members that are looking to hire employees, ensuring we have all mental and physical wellness consultation and items on campus, and again whatever there is that I don’t know. If elected, I do not take my role lightly, I signed up to ensure that every Emporia State student can have a positive unique experience at Emporia State, and that their needs are met, there is no stopping until every student feels comfortable at Emporia State.

Gant: One part of our campaign that ensures access to resources is to create and develop online resource hubs to connect students to the existing campus resources. We understand that online resources are so valuable to knowing what is happening on campus and knowing what resources you have available to you. We are also going to be reworking student-facing forms/submission tools with I.T. This includes service hour submissions, allocation forms, and the RSO leadership process. Our hope is these items will create more streamlined access to campus resources.

What are the goals of your campaign? 

Arif: Our campaign is built on the principles of L.E.A.D. which stands for Listen, Empower, Act, and Deliver. 

• Listen: We want to bring students together, understand their concerns, and ensure every voice is heard through steamlined processes and listening by attending RSO meetings and bringing that concern back to campus and Senate.

• Empower: Our goal is to equip RSOs with the resources and communication channels they need to operate independently and effectively, reducing unnecessary ASG intervention while strengthening training and student-led initiatives. 

• Act: Many deeply rooted issues go unaddressed due to a lack of awareness or understanding of the Internal + External factors of ASG. We are committed to tackling these challenges head-on such as better Financial Transparency, Transportation affordability and ensuring easier ways to track RSO Requirements.

• Deliver: We believe in action, not just discussion. Our goal is to turn student ideas into tangible outcomes while fostering a culture of respectful discourse where students can engage with differing viewpoints and grow through meaningful conversations.

Franz: The goals of our campaign have been to listen to what our students had to say and then create a defined and objective action plan that adequately align with the sphere of operation for ASG to help solve problems on our campus such as the following action items:

• Creating a free social media equipment library for students.

• Improved leadership trainings.

• Improving ASG’s student facing submission forms.

• Developing a new system for Line-Item Organization’s financial reporting to ASG.

• Creating a central event calendar.

• Creating an online resource hub for students.

These goals and action items of our campaign have shown that we both not only care about listening to what our fellow Hornets have to say, but we have the commitment and realistic approach to put them in action instead of just talking about issues.

How will you facilitate a welcoming and supportive environment on campus for students?

Manahan: There are a few different ways that Emporia State is lacking in creating a welcoming and supportive environment, one that is mostly felt by Spring transfers and International students, neither of which get a tour of campus, or any help on getting involved on campus. It truly feels at time like it is sink or swim. There is also a lack of helping all students get involved, besides a one day mass tabling event on Commercial Street, there is only one list on Hornet Central (which is very tucked away) to view all RSOs on campus, which gives you a feeling that it was put together with very minimal effort, as there is no interactiveness on the page and just 88 pictures of RSOs to join. I want to make sure that every student is getting personalized lists based off of surveys they take before they come to Emporia State that shows the RSOs that they would be a “best fit” for. Included on the list are the RSOs next event, summary, and recruitment chair contact information. Lastly, I want to ensure that there is a list put together of different places on campus that would hire college students, feedback from seniors on the best places to go to eat, shop, and hangout in the Emporia community. I believe that these steps, which are time consuming but not hard to set up, would greatly enhance a feeling of belonging and personalization when students first step on campus here at Emporia State University. 

Gant: We understand the importance of finding your place on campus and how important that sense of belonging is to your success. We plan to facilitate a welcoming and supportive environment by ensuring no student is left behind. We plan to create a centralized student calendar that includes every conference, every workshop, every opportunity, and every event. Often students who are off-campus or online are completely unaware of what opportunities they have, or do not know details of the event so they do not know when to be and where. The intention behind this resource is to create a more welcoming environment at ESU and to make the campus feel more supportive, less isolating, and much more engaging.

If elected, what initiatives do you hope to implement on campus that will benefit ESU students? Why these initiatives?

Manahan: There are a few initiatives that I would love to implement among campus, the first being the creation of a student Live at the Hive and a student Hornet Hangout. Working in athletics, I have already begun these talks, we have already begun looking for sponsors in our athletic contracts of caterers for these events. I want to run this initiative because I have worked the Live at the Hive and Hornet Hangout rooms for Emporia State Athletics this year and while I believe it is important for our donors to have some extra love thrown their way from the university, I also believe that we are not doing nearly enough for our student experience at Emporia State, I believe this is a massive step forward. 

I believe there is an initiative I want to start that is long overdue, which is shuttle services on Friday and Saturday nights for our Hornets who choose to check out what the Emporia night scene has to offer. I want to ensure that these students have a safe way to have fun, without the worries of these students getting behind the wheel of a car. Other universities near us have this system, why has Emporia State not done the same?

Consolidating down the amount of events that Emporia State puts on, while using the same amount of money, being able to put more financial resources into fewer events can greatly improve student events on campus. The University of Kansas for instance was able to bring in Snoop Dogg this year for a concert that was free for all students. While we may not be able to get Snoop Dogg, getting up and coming artists such as Gracie Abrahms or Alex Warren are much more feasible. I believe that this initiative not only enhances student experience at Emporia State, making students want to spend four years in Emporia, Kansas. But will also help to recruit bigger numbers of incoming Freshman to choose Emporia State over Pitt State, FHSU, or Washburn University. 

The last initiative that I want to bring up in this email is the restructuring of Hornet Central, ensuring that students find it easier to get involved, submit service hours, or find helpful resources for problems that they are facing. Moving Hornet Central to the first tab on Hornet 365, as well as equipping a restructured Hornet Central with search engine optimization and key words. For instance, if a student wanting to get more involved on campus has a want to be apart of a community service organization, who believe in supporting environmentalist issues, Green Club would be one of the first RSOs to be populated in the search engine, where they can get a more detailed summary of Green Club (written by Green Club) as well as some promotional videos taken, a list of current members, an invite to the next meeting time and location, as well as the recruitment chairs contact information. Next to a tab that would be called “get involved” would be a tab called “RSO requirements page”. Here RSOs can easily find the requirements to keep their RSO going, apply to keep their RSO standing for the next school year, and a personalized tab to submit their service hours that is interactive and keeps an live counter of how many hours the RSO has left to suffice the requirements put in place by the Associated Student Government.

Gant: We have multiple initiatives we are planning to implement on campus if elected. One of which is a social media workshop where students would be able to check out film and sound equipment for a multitude of things. The most prominent being social media. We understand that social media is a vital part of getting your organization and its events out there. Our hope is that this workshop increases your organization’s content and increases attendance at your events. More specific details can be found on our campaign page and more of our intended initiatives, @franz_gant_esu25.  

What is the most pressing issue concerning ESU students today? How will you work to remedy that under your leadership?

Arif: Throughout our campaign, Josh and I took the opportunity to attend and connect directly with students and RSOs across campus, listening to their concerns and gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges they face. One message has been overwhelmingly clearly — many students feel unheard, and their concerns do not translate into meaningful change.

Under our leadership, we will change that by fostering direct engagement, ensuring that student voices are not just acknowledged but actively integrated into ASG decision-making. We will be present in spaces where student concerns matter most, regularly attending first generation and transfer student meetings, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee meetings, international student forums, FSL leadership discussions, and forums to create a stronger bridge between students and their representatives which will enable us to dig deeper into points and concerns.

Franz: I would say that the most pressing issue for ESU Students today is a student life epidemic. Not enough students are involved or attend events on campus such as athletic events, joining clubs or organizations associated with their interests or majors. This is currently causing a higher transfer rate out as students value a fun college experience. Gladly our university officials are doing a great job to help bring interest to sporting events which hopefully will bring a cultural shift that supports the athletes, campus organizations, and students.

All responses were received via email and have been edited for certain punctuation and style requirements only.