With the slogan “Your Choice for Change,” Hailey Morton and Yuval Rosenthal seek to improve the interconnectedness and representation of all student voices on campus if elected as the president and vice president of the Associated Students of Colorado State University.

Morton and Rosenthal stress the importance of advancing inclusivity, transparency, and connections between the student body and members of ASCSU.

“Communication is the key to success and I believe our ASCSU offices have a lot of great ideas but not necessarily a means in which we can communicate and build on them,” Morton said.

Morton and Rosenthal also believe there is a lack of representation and incorporation between certain groups and members of the student body with ASCSU.

“We both reached out to different offices on campus and realized there is a lack of diversity in ASCSU’s executive branch, so we want to create relationships between student government and these different diverse communities on campus,” Morton said.

Morton and Rosenthal aspire to create more inclusivity by created a board of 10 liaisons within the executive branch for eight different Student Diversity Program and Service offices, Greek life and club sports.

“There are so many different groups on campus and these communities have never been bridged together,” Morton said. “But, if we are able to create a council with these liaisons we can hear from more voices on campus that normally aren’t represented.”

They have also devised a system in which students will be able to see where their money is going.

“We want to create an email system that once a budget gets passed and approved by senate it will be sent out to the student body for them to see where their student dollars go,” Rosenthal said. “This will help us increase transparency… and know more about how students feel about the budget and where they want their money to be going.”

They are also seeking to create an effective survey system where students who are registering for classes can see ratings from of classes and teachers from all other students who have taken the class before.

“We would like surveys to go digital and obviously, this go towards a sustainability effort as well because it will be saving a ton of paper,” Morton said. “Before they register for classes, we would like students to have access on RamWeb to see what kinds of environments these classrooms are creating and how the professors interact with students.”

They believe that this will create more transparency between professors and students, and it will also incentivize professors to create a preferable learning environment.

Beyond their efforts to create a participatory environment for all students, Morton and Rosenthal have promised to cut their compensation if they are elected.

“We don’t see the necessity in being one of the highest paid student positions on campus, so we are aiming to decrease our pay,” Rosenthal said. “But, we do not want to decrease the pay for the other members of ASCSU because we want to incentivize people to join a meaningful administration.”

Morton and Rosenthal plan to use the difference from their anticipated and designated pay and put it towards whatever the student body thinks is necessary.

“We know it won’t be a lot of money,” Morton said. “But, we hope to at least support the creation of something that can make a difference.”

Hailey Morton, Presidential Candidate

Morton, a junior, is pursuing a triple major in political science, Spanish, and women’s studies along with a minor in Latin American studies. She is also a member of the Golden Poms team.

Morton has worked on numerous state and local elections for Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Michael Bennet, Representative Jared Polis, State Senator John Kefalas, State Representative Jeni Arndt and State Representative Joann Ginal. Morton currently works at the Colorado State Capitol as an intern for Senator Steve Fenberg and serves on the Central Committee as one of its youngest members in history.

Although Morton has no previous experience with ASCSU, she believes this is more of a benefit than setback.

“ASCSU has lacked in being transparent with students and including them in on what is going on within ASCSU,” Morton said. “Yuval is beneficial because he knows the ins and outs of ASCSU from his involvement. Coming from my involvement in state and local politics, I believe that I bring in a different voice that can represent students who haven’t been involved with ASCSU before.”

Yuval Rosenthal, Vice Presidential Candidate

Rosenthal, a sophomore double majoring in economics and political science, was born and raised in Israel. He moved to Canada at the age of 14 to play hockey before committing to play for CSU. In ASCSU, he works as an associate senator for the College of Liberal Arts, an executive member on the Liberal Arts College Council and as a member of International Affairs committee.

He is also the President of CSU’s Division 1 hockey team and served in the Israeli military, where he commanded a team of nine.

Rosenthal believes that becoming Vice President of ASCSU will help integrate the opinions and ideas of international students due to his background. He speaks four languages and said he is involved with the international community on campus.

“From my interaction with other international students across campus, some people are disadvantaged without having English as their first language in being able to really reach out to others,” Rosenthal said. “I think our student government has not really opened those doors for international students. We want to create an environment where all students can get involved.”

Rosenthal believes that it is important for everyone to get involved in politics on campus, regardless of their walk of life.

“There is a lot of change that needs to be done,” Yuval said. “And, we feel as though we have the connections to not only make change, but involve all students to make a difference as well.”

Collegian reporter Piper Davis can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @PiperLDavis.