On Thursday, students will vote in the first round of Union elections. The open positions are president, vice president, treasurer, secretary all seats on the Finance Board and representatives to the Board of Trustees, Alumni Association. Senator and Student Judiciary elections will take place in the second round of voting, on Thursday, April 26.

The candidates for Student Union president are Louis Connelly '13, David Fisch '13, Dillon Harvey '14, Joshua Hoffman-Senn '13, Todd Kirkland '13 and Steven Milo '13.

Connelly's campaign is focused on making Brandeis a "better learning and research institution," he wrote in an email to the Justice. Along with goals for improving housing, transportation and other aspects of the University, he plans to "enhance the academic experience at Brandeis" through reducing class sizes, enhancing experiential learning and obtaining more student input.

Fisch highlighted three areas that he hopes to improve if elected: housing, dining and school unity. His housing goals involve an active improvement of off-campus options for students. In terms of dining, he wants to suggest a rethinking of the contract with Aramark as well as some modified meal plans. Finally, he said in an interview with the Justice, "I would really want to push for improvements in school unity ... using our sports teams."

Harvey, the only rising junior running, who has previously served as a class senator and as the co-director of community advocacy, is focusing his campaign on "pluralistic advocacy," he wrote in an email to the Justice. He emphasized that the president's role is to "[lead] an inclusive Union ... and ... be the intermediary between [students] and the administration."

Hoffman-Senn, who has served as an assistant treasurer, is focusing his campaign on dining and the club-chartering process. He said that if he was elected, it would be "a way for me to leave something behind on campus ... a way for me to leave here knowing that I made change and that future students are going to benefit from that." He wants to introduce food trucks into the dining services on campus and seek additional funds for the Union's budget through private sponsorship.

Kirkland, the current Union secretary, wrote in an email to the Justice that the main themes of his campaign are communication and transparency. "Union members need to provide more transparency into what they are doing, and they need to take on a smaller number of projects," he wrote. He also wrote that he wants to "trim out excess union positions and make union members more accountable."

Milo did not respond to a request for a comment by press time.

Ricky Rosen '14, who served as the senator for the class of 2014 this year, is opposing current Union Vice President Gloria Park '13 in her bid for reelection.

In an email to the Justice, Rosen said that he hopes to maintain lines of communication concerning dining and student life, which that he opened this year as a senator. He wrote that his "paramount objective ... is to bring about increased transparency in the Student Union."

In an email to the Justice, Park highlighted several initiatives that are central to her campaign, which include improvements to campus transportation and facilities as well as raising awareness about social justice within the Brandeis community. Park wrote that she "love[s] the versatility and flexibility with this position" and that she believes "the role of VP could be further expanded to connect branches within the Union as well as the entire student body."

The students running for treasurer are Sunny Aidasani '14, David Clements '14 and Owen Voelker '14.

Clements, who served as an assistant treasurer for three semesters, wants to increase transparency, improve the ease of students' interactions with the treasury, reorganize the treasury and ensure the financial transparency of secured clubs, he wrote in an email to the Justice.

Aidasani and Voelker, who also have both served as assistant treasurers, could not be reached by press time.

Dean Kaplan '15, Derek Komar '15 and Carlton Shakes '14 are running for secretary.

Shakes, who served as an assistant treasurer, wrote in an email to the Justice that he hopes to "update and connect the greater Brandeis community, including the Student Body, faculty, and administration."

Kaplan and Komar could not be reached by press time.

The students running for representative to the Board of Trustees are Susannah Feinstein '14, Jack Hait '14 and Nathan Israel '14.

Lys Joseph '14 and Andre Ve Tran '14 are running unopposed for the positions of representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the representative to the Alumni Association, respectively.

Seven students are running for the four open seats on F-Board: Gabby Castellanos '13, Elly Kalfus '13, Manoo Sabety-Javid '14, Ajai Scott '15, Moshi Shi '15, Jiaying Zhang '13 and Ziman Zhou '13.

Kalfus, who is on the Student Advisory Strategic Planning Committee, wrote in an email to the Justice that "increased communication between clubleaders [sic] and F-Board members would definitely help improve the quality of life on campus, which is a goal I think all students have in common."

Zhang wrote in an email to the Justice, "as a Finance Board member, I will push towards more flexible spending, and I am looking forward to seeing a stronger and more diversified Brandeis community supporting various kinds of student events and activities."

In an email to the Justice, Zhou wrote that "My mission is to do my utmost, together with my colleagues, to get and allocate as much as I could to all the clubs and organizations for their real needs." She added that she would also "bring more smile on board."

Castellanos, Sabety-Javid, Scott and Shi could not be reached by press time.

Jae Jung '15 and Donald Lim '15 are running for the racial minority seat on the F-Board.

In the second round of elections next week, voting will open for senator at large, senators for the classes of 2013, 2014 and 2015, racial minority senator, as well as all seats of the Student Judiciary.

-Sara Dejene and Tate Herbert contributed reporting.