Students will have the opportunity to vote online for new Student Senators this week in the Spring 2021 Special Election.

All of the candidates were required to send in an application, and then go through an orientation session before they began campaigning on Jan. 18.

Campaigning ended Jan. 24, and elections begin the following day. Voting will be open for two days.

Four students are running for senate seats: junior political science and Spanish major Kassandra Amaya, senior math and accounting major Seth Yeakel, junior computer science and economics major Francesco Romano, and sophomore math major Prabin Karki.

They each filmed a short video introducing themselves and explaining some of the issues that they would focus on if elected. All four videos are available in full on the Student Government Instagram page, @eiustudentgov.

Amaya said that her big issues would be mental health and diversity on campus.

“Here at Eastern, we have a growing minority population,” Amaya said. “I think it’s important to spread cultural awareness and appreciate the different cultures we have here on campus.”

Yeakal said he wants to focus on providing resources for online students and making it possible for students to decide what mode of class they prefer.

“I want to make sure I get the voice of my classmates, the voices of the organization I’m in, into the student body here on campus,” Yaekel said. “I’ll be representing more of an online community this semester.”

He also spoke on his previous experience in student government.

Karki said that he would mainly focus on academic affairs; specifically, he’s interested in introducing new majors and minors to Eastern’s catalogue.

He also said that he would work to make online classes run more smoothly.

“Data science and statistics are just a couple of examples that I think are missing from EIU’s catalogue that are stopping it from being the best school around,” Karki said.

Romano’s platform is focused on sustainability and recycling on campus.

“For example, it has been my experience both in the dorms and at U Courts, that recycling is significantly more difficult than it is to just throw everything away,” Romano said. “I would propose a solution of increasing the number of receptacles and the proximity of those receptacles to the students.”

Students will receive an email with a link to vote for student senate through their PantherMail accounts on either Jan. 24 or Jan. 25.

Student Government will then hold its first meeting Jan. 27.

Luke Taylor can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].