Editor’s note: Interviews have been edited for length and clarity. 

The upcoming SGA election has two tickets for president and vice president of the student body.  

Ben Moses and Asher Early are running together for president and vice president. Both have previous experience serving on senate. Moses and Early are running on a platform of student engagement and accessibility. 

Presidential Candidate Ben Moses (he/him) 

Moses is a senior criminal justice major, and he has served as the senator of multicultural affairs for two years. In addition to SGA, Moses serves as the historian and secretary for Black Student Union, and he is a member of a fraternity on campus. Moses is graduating with his Bachelor’s in Fall 2025 and plans to attend grad school at UCCS. 

What made you decide to run for president? 

I wanted to run for president because I feel like I have a real understanding and connection to this university. I’ve been serving on committees such as the Budget Advisory committee, the Rules and Organizations committee and the University Center Advisory Board. I am familiar with a lot of departments and a lot of clubs. Being in a multicultural club myself and a fraternity, I feel like I would be a good person to represent the student body. 

Furthermore, I want to make things more accessible for students. That’s kind of our platform: engagement and accessibility for students. It’s easy to understand all the programs and initiatives we have on campus when you’re part of student government, but no matter what background you come from: traditional, untraditional, commuter student, it’s harder to get that full grasp of what really goes on on campus.  

I want to bridge that gap between communication and provide more resources and access to students so they can see what SGA can provide them to make their experience better. 

How has your experience with SGA prepared you to be president? 

I believe SGA has prepared me to run for this position because I’m familiar with how funding is allocated toward clubs and bills. I understand what process you have to go through to get things done. Being in a club myself, I’ve had to deal with complex resources, like MLC, that can be frustrating to students figuring it out for the first time. 

During my two years at BAC, we have gone through hundreds of club proposals for funding, and I have gotten to figure out and learn what students are really asking for. 

In the Rules and Orgs committee, I have learned a lot about bills and bylaws. That’s a big one, because we have to follow policy, and policy is another thing that I believe I have a really strong understanding of.  

What values do you feel student government has a responsibility to uphold? 

I feel like the values SGA has the responsibility to uphold are pretty much our platform: student engagement and accessibility. We should be making student government available for the student population to really know what’s going on, and we have been doing a great job of that already, but I feel that Asher and I can bring more to the table in that regard as far as outreach and coordinating events. 

How do you feel about the current SGA? 

The current SGA is a pivotal piece to representing the student body. I believe all the senators are phenomenal, and they are representing their respective departments wonderfully. I’ve never ran into a problem with how SGA functions or operates.  

They’re so great, in fact, that if Asher and I were to be elected, we would love to coordinate with each senator even more, because we’ve had a lot of wonderful senators come in within the last year or two. 

How do you feel about the state of student engagement on campus? What are your plans to encourage more engagement? 

With engagement, I feel like advertising is a big piece, because sometimes, with the hoops we have to jump through, it can take up to two weeks to put up a poster. Something I’d want to do is plan events up to three months in advance to make sure they’re out there and be able to spread the word in a timely manner.  

We don’t want to be throwing events together at short notice and not getting a good turnout, because that would just be a waste of money. We don’t want to waste students’ money or time. 

What are your goals? What changes do you want to make? 

We definitely want to outreach to more clubs and students to hear their feedback and incorporate it into those events. We’re just here to represent what the students want, and there are well over 200 amazing clubs on campus that have their own cool niche that they could share with the rest of the student body.  

One event I think would be cool is if we have an end of the year summer block party. Toward the end of spring, after spring break, we really don’t have anything going on. I also have an idea about grocery bingo. It’s kind of the same concept as Friendsgiving bingo, except students play for cool items and groceries. 

For the past few years, SGA has had a pattern of running out of club funding by the first semester. Do you think this is a problem? If yes, how would you address this issue? 

I do see how it is a problem, but this is something that we’re just going to have to discuss through the proper procedures. We did have a tuition fee increase, but we’re also having a club increase as well. That’s very difficult to fully analyze now without the proper numbers. We just want to meet with departments; our student government, BAC, the future director of finance, to actually discuss those matters. 

At the end of the day, it’s no one’s fault that we are running out of money so early. It’s just that the number of clubs are growing and requesting the amount that they are. So, I do believe it is a problem, but I believe we’ve got to carefully strategize as to how we will solve this. 

Vice Presidential Candidate Asher Early (he/him) 

Early is a sophomore sociology major, and he has served as the senator of clubs, organizations and Greek life since September 2024. Early is a member of Pi Kappa Phi. 

What made you decide to run for vice president? 

The thing that made me want to run for vice president was when I sat down with Ben. I was most likely going to run for my current position again, and then he came and walked me through all his ideas he had. Especially where we stand with DEI, with the stuff that’s going on with it, we’ve got to make sure that it doesn’t go anywhere.  

How has your experience with SGA prepared you to be vice president? 

As soon as I got approved to be a senator, I immediately went to BAC to become a chair member and see how the clubs apply for funding. I’m also on the University Center Advisory Board, and I serve as the vice chair on that board, so I get to see where everyone’s at, where they all stand and what they want done. 

What values do you feel student government has a responsibility to uphold? 

I feel like accountability is a big aspect. Along with that, getting involved and making sure there’s clear lines of communication with everything that we want to do. Like if we were to meet with the chancellor or the Board of Regents, we should be giving a run down to the student body about what is going on and how we’re going to help. 

How do you feel about the current SGA? 

I love each and every person we serve with right now: the executive board, judicial and senate. If any of them were to call me like, “Hey, I need help with this,” I’ll gladly answer and try helping them to the best of my ability. This has been a life changing experience, and I’ve made friends that I’ll have for the rest of my life. I would love to work with them again if we were to get elected. 

How do you feel about the state of student engagement on campus? What are your plans to encourage more engagement? 

I think a lot of students are using more apps to be informed, so we plan to adapt to our climate and try to expand our messages to more media outlets. Also, planning events with enough time to coordinate and outreach to students will give them enough time to be familiarized with what we’re planning and put it in their calendars. For student engagement, we definitely would like to help out wherever we can. 

For the past few years, SGA has had a pattern of running out of club funding by the first semester. Do you think this is a problem? If yes, how would you address this issue? 

To an extent. A lot of the clubs that come in ask for really great things, and really fun events happen from that process. I’m happy to approve their request to get events that will increase student engagement. But I do think that if we get elected, we should look at why it’s running out by collaborating with other departments.  

I know catering is very expensive for these events. It’s probably the most expensive part of funding proposals. So, I think if we look at the bigger picture, we can narrow it down and make it to where we won’t have to allocate as much money. 

Further election details:  

• The SGA debate will take place on March 5, at 6 p.m. in the student life lounge. 

• SGA voting will open Monday, March 10, and close Friday, March 14. Polling stations will be open every day from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. outside of the UC Big Cat Coffee, or students can vote online.  

Students can find the Q&A for presidential candidate Aidan Burke and vice-presidential Candidate Isabella Polombo here. 

Graphic via The Scribe archives.