LSU Student Government presidential candidate Desh Gaskins and vice presidential candidate Hayden Robert are running independently on a platform of diversity, equality, sustainability and health and wellness.
If elected, this will be political science junior Hayden Robert’s first experience with Student Government. Sports administration junior Desh Gaskins is also new to SG, aside from his two weeks with Freshman Leadership Council his freshman year. The pair intends to use their leadership and work experience around campus if elected.
“I want to come back to Student Government to hopefully make a 180 and focus at the base level on the students,” Gaskins said. “Making sure the students are advocated for and everyone feels they can work collaboratively.”
The pair are running without a campaign team, ticket name and social media pages to preserve authenticity. Gaskins and Robert’s primary campaign method has been walking around the Student Union and having genuine conversations with students to show the pair is easily accessible.
“A lot of social media people get behind a screen and put all these great things, but when you ask them about it, they’re like ‘I didn’t have time to think about it’,” Robert said. “You need to think about these things in advance so you can push your initiative.”
The candidates have created four major initiatives to support their platform: diversity, equality, sustainability and health and wellness.
To support diversity they plan to talk to senior colleges about requiring a women and gender studies elective for all majors.
To increase equality on campus, they also want to combat the high cost of living on campus and ensure all students have the opportunity to live in the dorm of their choice.
“I worked in Herget Hall, and you can tell the people that live there were like ‘I don’t want to live here, but this is the cheapest option,’ and that’s not fair,” Robert said. “Some people really wanted to live in their Residential College, but it was so expensive. I don’t necessarily think that’s fair just due to income reasons.”
For sustainability, the pair wants paper straws offered in the Student Union and a brief tour of different recycling stations around campus added to freshman orientation They also hope for the University to go paperless in classrooms as much as possible, but they feel this would take a while to establish.
“Most of our initiatives are conversation based and about gaining support,” Gaskins said. “At least knowing the conversation is beginning and the administration is on our side in terms of support.”
Gaskins approached Robert a few months ago with the idea to run for SG president and vice president. Robert was quick to agree and said she didn’t have a second thought while making her decision. Gaskins said they have a genuine connection; Robert has his back, and they work well as a team.
Since they are running independently, they do not have a ticket name. However, if they did they would choose to name their ticket “Believe.”
“Both of us believe in the work that can be done here,” Gaskins said. “We believe in the students, we believe in administration, we believe in every aspect functioning effectively and efficiently.”
Voting will take place on Tigerlink all day March 9.
