For Stanford students, the coming of spring also means the coming of the ASSU elections. Yesterday, the ASSU released a list of candidates applying for executive positions within the organization, as well as candidates for class presidents and members of the ASSU Undergraduate Senate. Ballots can be cast on April 7 and 8, and students will have the opportunity to learn more about the candidates when campaigning officially begins on March 31.

There are three slates of candidates running for president and vice president of the ASSU. These candidates said they will tackle a variety of financial and social issues in their campaigns.

Presidential candidate junior Ajani Husbands and vice presidential candidate junior Alyssa Schwartz said they plan to focus on topics like cost of living and the special-fees process, among others. Husbands served on the Senate two years ago, when he helped develop the ASSU arts grant, and is currently involved at the Haas Center for Public Service and is a member of Alpha Pi Alpha. Schwartz is currently the chair of the Senate Advocacy Committee.

“Being involved in the Senate made me realize that it is vital that the ASSU accurately reflect the needs of students and work with the administration,” Schwartz said.

Senior Mikey Lee, another slate’s presidential candidate, and junior Dylan Mefford, Lee’s vice presidential candidate, said they also plan to make communication a key concern. The pair is emphasizing their extensive leadership experience in the ASSU and elsewhere. Lee was a Junior Class President last year and is currently a Senior Class President. He has also served leadership positions at The Stanford Daily and at the Sigma Nu fraternity. Mefford is an ASSU senator and president of the Stanford Democrats.

“I’ve used my four years getting ready for this, and now it’s time to implement what I’ve learned,” ee said.

As part of their platform, Lee and Mefford are proposing to turn the current ASSU social initiative, Absolute Fun, into a matching-grants program that they hope will engage a larger part of the student body in social events. They said they are currently working with the University President John Hennessy’s office to discuss the idea.

“Community is the number one concern,” Lee said. “We are convinced that we can fight the decentralization of all student groups in a strong effort to make way for more diversity.”

The final slate of candidates consists of senior Charlie Stockman and junior Matthew Henick. Both are writers for the Stanford Chapparal. Stockman, who will also be a coterminal student next year, ran on an all-Chappie ticket last year but lost to the current team of senior Nadiya Figueroa and junior Joey Natoli.

He expressed high hopes for this year’s election.

“While other candidates are putting flyers up on bathroom mirrors just to immediately tear them down and berate themselves for breaking the rules, I’ll be sitting back in a lawn chair winning the election,” Stockman said. “You don’t run for ASSU President again and lose, that just doesn’t happen.”

Among their qualifications, Stockman and Henick are citing “war experience” logged in the fight against poverty with the Salvation Army.

“When our opponents are taking I-banking jobs and moving into high-rise apartment buildings, we will be holding our noses and jumping into the sewers, hunting down the hobos where they live,” Henick said.

The candidates for respective Class Presidents were also announced. The slates running for Junior Class President and Senior Class President are unopposed, but the race for Sophomore Class President promises competition, with three slates of candidates vying for the position.

Michael Lazar, a freshman, is running as part of the SOLV slate. The name is derived from the last names of the four slate members, and the group is pitching a slogan to “SOLV the Sophomore Slump.”

“Everyone talks about the so-called sophomore slump, and we’re trying to change that,” Lazar said. “The four of us have had good experiences this year with leadership opportunities, and we have different interests that represent the class well.”

Another slate of candidates, the Unity slate, also plans to address the issue of declining school spirit after the freshman year.

Unity candidate Jeremy Battle, a freshman, said that part of the answer to this problem lies in the proper distribution of the funds allocated to the Sophomore Class Presidents.

“We should use those funds wisely to make sure the social scene is moving forward after the freshman year,” Battle said.

The final slate running for Sophomore Class President declined to comment for this article.

The newest batch of senators will also be decided on election day. There will be 35 candidates on the ballot. Next year’s ASSU Undergraduate Senate will have to deal with many of the same issues facing the current Senate, including special fees and cost of living.

Lee and Mefford’s campaign slogan echoes the optimism and determination expressed by many of the candidates: “It’s time to get stuff done, and we’ve never been more ready.”

Schwartz vowed that she and Husbands would work with all groups on campus to achieve results.

Meanwhile, Stockman and Henick promised to shake up the race.

“We will be preaching the hard truth, tacking bleak facts to your bulletin boards and protecting this campus from false promises and even worse, vagrants,” they said in a statement to The Daily.