CONNECT works for traditions council, sustainability, increased nightlife

Almost half a calendar later, they are still in the promise-making phase, but the executive candidates are confident that if elected, their campaign platforms will start to take shape before taking office March 25.

The CONNECT party's three major platforms are to create a traditions council that will work with the Nebraska Alumni Association and the recently renamed Scarlet Guard to promote class rings, pep rallies before football games and teach everyone the school songs. The other platforms are to increase sustainability at UNL and to offer more campus nightlife opportunities.

Andrea Cranford, communications director of the Nebraska Alumni Association, said she hasn't spoken with anyone from the CONNECT party, but said they would be willing to work with the group if they are elected.

Carlos Lopez, a senior psychology and computer science major and president of the Scarlet Guard, said he has met with CONNECT party candidates. He said the Traditions Council would do a lot of the same things the Scarlet Guard already does, like promote songs and class rings. However, the Traditions Council would also do things not being done yet by other campus groups, like promote a statewide game shirt fans would be encouraged to wear on Saturdays in the fall, Lopez said.

"I would expect that the (Traditions Council) would be willing to work with the (Scarlet Guard)" Lopez said. He added that he hasn't talked about specifics with the candidates, in part because the Scarlet Guard is co-sponsoring a debate Monday night between the three parties running, and Lopez did "not want to make it seem like I was planning to work with a party."

When it comes to on-campus nightlife, the responsibility of giving students something to do belongs to members of the University Program Council and the Campus Night Life committee. But Lauren Larsen, a junior advertising major and UPC president, said she wasn't worried about having to work with ASUN if CONNECT is elected. She said having another group helping organize events distributes the workload and increases student participation.

"We're always looking for co-sponsors," Larsen said. "It benefits the other groups. It usually lets them bring different types of people to the event."

"We're not stepping on anyone's toes," said Megan Collins, CONNECT presidential candidate. "If anything, it adds support ... My goal is to get this up and running sooner rather than later. Students deserve something."

Collins, a junior business major, said each of the other two executives have taken charge of one of the campaign platforms. She is working on campus nightlife, while external vice presidential candidate Amanda Crook, a junior political science major, is focusing on creating the Traditions Council.

Brian Coburn, a junior biochemistry major and internal vice presidential candidate for CONNECT, is head of the sustainability platform. He said it is "really about connecting students to … other student groups … and strengthening those groups by connecting them to faculty."

Coburn said if CONNECT is elected, students will notice that they will have an easier time recycling. After looking at recycling opportunities in other residence halls, Coburn said he came up with the idea of putting recycling bins in more convenient locations so students don't have to walk around the residence halls looking for places to recycle.

"People are not doing it," Coburn said of recycling on campus. "It is not out there enough."

Coburn said the CONNECT party's campaign platforms came about from meetings with all the candidates running under the party name, not just the executives. Coburn said the party began tossing out platform ideas, and the three final ones were the ideas that came up most often.

The Traditions Council is one of the platforms that would take effect soon after election day on March 4 if CONNECT is victorious.

"We're farther along than the other two parties, but we haven't talked to everybody," Coburn said. "We've talked to certain individuals who can help us."

RYANBOETEL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM