Apr. 6 marks the first day of MSA elections, and all the U of M campus can talk about is the race and who’s running. I sat down with Cameron Holl, MSA Presidential Candidate, and Nidhi Khurana, MSA Vice Presidential Candidate, to hear more about their campaign. Although their campaign is primarily focused around their three points: improving mental health resources on campus, reducing sexual assault on campus and lowering the cost of college, there is a lot more to their campaign that every University of Minnesota student should know before they vote. (*Note: These points are compiled in no particular order.*)

1. Cam is qualified.

Cam has served as a CLA Student Senator for two years and has been involved in MSA for three years, as long as any other candidate in the race. In addition, he was an Orientation Leader last summer. This position familiarized him with all of the resources on campus and how they interact with the University at large, and this knowledge pertains a great deal to how he plans to utilize and better the University of Minnesota’s resources.

Not only does Cam possess a great deal of experience, he possesses several personality traits that qualify him for the President of MSA position and all that it entails. He is a natural leader and claims that one of his leadership styles is “challenging the process,” meaning that he always pushes to change things for the better. “I want to leave this campus better than when I got here so that other students can have as awesome an experience as I had,” Cam said.

2. They are the only Greek Candidates in the race.

Although the University of Minnesota’s Greek community may seem small compared to the total undergraduate population of 35,000 undergraduates, the Greek community is unique in that it is very involved. Through the Greek community, Cam, member of Beta Theta Pi, and Nidhi, member of Delta Gamma, have been provided with leadership opportunities and have had the ability to meet and interact with people of different backgrounds outside of their majors and colleges.

According to Cam, they believe that their perspective as people who are tied into the Greek community “really lends a perspective on the university as a whole.” Not to mention that Cam and Nidhi wouldn’t be the first Greek Candidates to run for MSA, as current MSA President, Joelle Stangler, is a member of Chi Omega and past MSA President, Mike Schmidt, was a member of Beta Theta Pi.

3. They will improve mental health resources.

Cam and Nidhi plan on improving our campus’s mental health resources in several ways from raising awareness to actually implementing programs. For example, they plan on increasing funding to Boynton to reduce wait times. They also plan to raise awareness on mental health issues and the resources that are available to students, and they plan on doing this continuously by ensuring that programs and resources last.

One mental health initiative they’ve discussed with Boynton is de-stress, as managing stress is a common first step, preventative measure that can be taken in regards to mental health. They plan to model de-stress after health advocates. “I’ve dealt with mental health issues personally and Nidhi helped me through it, but not everyone knows how to do that,” Cam said. “So developing a peer-to-peer training program, whether that’s through health advocates, de-stress or Greek life, building a program like that where friends can help friends deal with mental health is something that we want to see happen and help make happen in MSA.”

4. They plan to reduce the cost of college.

They plan to reduce the cost of rising tuition through lobbying. “Lobbying is essentially communicating with people and telling them why they should care. We’re going to make sure we do a really good job of that.” Nidhi said.

They plan to be successful in their lobbying campaign by reaching out to the legislature and making sure they commit money to the university, while also working with the regents and the current administration. Reducing the cost of college doesn’t stop at tuition — Cam and Nidhi also plan to work with different departments, professors and different colleges to keep other aspects of college, such as the cost of textbooks, down.

5. Their platform is built from personal experiences, concerns from students and research.

While Cam and Nidhi’s platform is extremely well developed, what truly makes their campaign unique is their passion through personal experiences. For example, Cam has personally dealt with mental health issues on our campus, and because of that, he is very passionate about this and wants to better these resources. “This [mental health] isn’t just a talking point for Cam,” Nidhi said. “This is something he has had to deal with and he doesn’t want other students to have to deal with the problems of wait times and lack of services.”

Watching one of her best friends struggle with mental health took a toll on Nidhi as well; this made her just as passionate about improving the U's mental health resources. In addition, reducing the cost of college is something they both take very seriously as they are both out of state students. “The 15 percent a year proposed tuition hike is astronomical,” Cam said. “And we don’t feel like enough is being done about that right now.” Cam explained that it currently costs less for him to go to the U of M than it would for him to go in-state (Virginia), and that can highly influence out of state students’ decision to attend college here.

6. Nidhi is qualified.

Nidhi is the only outsider to MSA in this race; however, Nidhi has real-world political experience that makes her an extremely qualified candidate. She has had several internships with governors, representatives and senators. Nidhi was recently a policy intern for Governor Dayton, where she learned how to lobby. “There’s nobody more qualified here at the U for that [lobbying] than her,” Cam said.

In addition to her political experience, Nidhi has personality traits that make her a qualified Vice Presidential Candidate. She embodies the expression “a positive attitude goes a long way” by always carrying a smile on her face no matter what challenges she may face in a day. She is also extremely loyal to her campus and her friends, as she is involved in several different campus organizations and has helped her friends through tough times.

7. They want to reduce sexual assaults on campus.

“It seems like there’s been less of a focus on sexual assault on campus this year in MSA,” Cam said. Although Cam and Nidhi are in favor of the pushes that MSA has made for mental health this semester, they want to ensure that there are still conversations being had about sexual assault and mental health throughout the entire school year.

“We want to have a school year-long arc where everyone knows that we are focusing on these two issues at the same time,” Cam emphasized. They plan on balancing their focus on both issues by constantly assessing what is most relevant to our student body. They have already worked closely with the Aurora Center and plan on raising awareness on what the Aurora Center does and bettering that resource for our student body.

8. They are representative of the student body.

Between Cam and Nidhi, they bring a lot of different perspectives and backgrounds to the table. Not only do their separate genders and ethnicities bring different perspectives, but their one-of-a-kind experiences at the University provide them with several different insights as to what makes up the U of M. For example, Nidhi is very involved in the Carlson School of Management as the President of the Undergraduate Consulting Club, and Cam has been very involved on campus as an Orientation Leader.

Nidhi participated on the rowing team while Cam was a part of the juggling club. Their unique experiences and involvement in very different things on campus over the course of each of their three years on campus give them a very wide yet deep perception of all that is the University of Minnesota.

9. They are BFFs.

Cam and Nidhi have a meaningful, long-term friendship, which I think makes their campaign and team all the more special and unique. “Cam was my first friend in college,” Nidhi said. They met at their freshman orientation, bowled together in Coffman, and the rest is history! Going into my meeting with the two of them, I had no idea what their relationship was like other than that they were running for MSA President and Vice President together.

However, I could easily tell how close they were after five minutes of conversing with them. It’s no secret that they know each other so well and care about each other deeply. They even finished each others’ sentences at times, and I think that says a lot about their friendship, teamwork and how they will be a successful MSA President and Vice President.

10. You can volunteer with them.

There are several ways you can get more involved in Cam and Nidhi’s campaign. Whether it’s by handing out stickers, telling others more about Cam and Nidhi’s platform, etc. “You get to have a free T-shirt, you get to have a lot of fun, you get to meet students from all over the U, and you get a ton of free stickers,” Cam said. If you care about mental health, sexual assault and keeping the cost of college down, and you believe in Cam and Nidhi, you can fill out this form to volunteer with them here.