Thursday, February 20, 2014

Fiefia hopeful for presidential re-election

On Monday, Doug Fiefia will begin campaigning for his second year as student body president at Utah State University. Fiefia is running against Josh Lefevre and Ryan Lambert, but with experience as president already, Fiefia believes he has an advantage over his two opponents.

“A lot of things made me decide to run for president again,”  Fiefia said. “One of the major things, though, is the huge learning curve it takes for a new president to take over.”

Tyler Tolson, who served as ASUSU president from 2009-11, is the only other presidential candidate to run for re-election at USU.

“Because of Tolson’s second year, we have the new recreation center being built,” Fiefia said. “You are able to do bigger things your second year. If a new president were to come in, it’s a little bit harder.”

After a year in office, Fiefia believes his greatest advantage over his opponents is his experience and personal connections with the administration and fellow officers. The student body president believes he has formed a good working relationship with the university, and staying in office another year would mean completing the promises made to fellow USU students.

“Now I feel comfortable walking into the president’s office and saying this is huge student concern,” Fiefia said. “And I built that relationship enough that they trust and respect me to listen.”

Social media campaigning started Monday, Feb. 17 as candidates met with student clubs and organizations. Primary elections begin Monday, Feb. 24 and final elections will be held starting Wednesday, Feb. 26 through Thursday, Feb. 27.

“Its all about networking and what groups you are a part of,” said Kevin Webb, assistant director of USU/SA. “If a candidate isn’t involved in much, chances are they will not do very well in elections.”  

Webb said 20-25 percent of USU students turn out for voting, which is a “decent number” for the campus’ demographics.

Janessa Knowles, Nikki VanLith, Leann Fox, Claire Hubbard, Alex Taylor and Logan Jones contributed to this article.



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