Don't forget your TOGA
Tim Vonville and his TOGA party run for Student Senate elections
By Sarah Beth Hensley, Staff Writer
May 15, 2007 | 4:35 p.m.
Chalked sidewalks are billboards; fliers are promotions, and T-shirts are supporters. With student elections come unknown names and parties, so how do students know for whom to vote? The TOGA party thinks they may have an answer.
The Student Senate elections, taking place May 17, will choose the Student Senate for the 2007-2008 school year to represent the students and the issues of importance on this campus. As the presidential candidates work hard to articulate their views within the last few days, students work hard to understand the candidates’ positions to make wise decisions when voting.
One presidential candidate, Tim Vonville, is a junior political science major, representing the TOGA party, one of the two official parties on the ballot this year.
“I’m running because there needs to be changes at Ohio University, and we are trying to push for those changes,” stated Vonville. “I believe that higher education is a necessity, and the administrators need to be held accountable for funding,” he added.
Not only does Vonville plan to hold the administration accountable for their actions, but also himself and his team.
“We need to hold ourselves accountable and reach out to our constituency,” he noted.
As part of the TOGA party, he is part of a diverse ticket. “We have organizational commitment, the same mission and ideals, making it a cooperative and challenging environment,” said Vonville.
As TOGA embraces the diversity within its ticket, it is also embracing the old with the new and working toward change with experience. “Our party has been called ‘abrasive’ or ‘anti-administration,’ but that is not the case. We strive to hold the administration accountable for their choice. We will not tolerate decisions without the student voice.”
Vonville and TOGA have a platform covering issues on diversity, student voice, academics, athletics, the environment and “town/gown relations.”
One particular issue that Vonville aims to improve is the “Letters Home Program,” in which underage drinkers up to 24-years-old have letters sent to the address on their license in hopes of notifying a legal guardian when they are involved in an alcohol-related incident. Vonville sees this as discrimination and hopes to put the issue on the ballot for next year as a way to get students involved in the Athens government and evoke change in a system that many may see as unfair or unjust.
To learn more about the TOGA party visit their Facebook group, and don’t forget to vote May 17.
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Watch out for the rest of our candidate profiles today:
Will Klatt
Shane Tilton
Patrick Heery