SBVPO candidates

Trevor Hadick

First-year chemical engineering and engineering and public policy double major Trevor Hadick is running for student body vice president for organizations (SBVPO) on a platform of improving communication between organizations and the Committee on Student Organizations (CoSO), as well as increasing collaborations between organizations and making space allocations more efficient. Hadick also hopes to reform the current student government elections process by having two election periods: one in the spring to elect the SBVPO, and then another in the fall to elect members of the Committee on Student Organizations.

“This position has been underutilized and underdeveloped; however, I plan on going above and beyond the defined duties of the position,” Hadick wrote in an email.

“I want organizations to see me as a resource, even beyond recognition/re-recognition and space allocations. My goal is to be their ally by helping connect them to the important resources here on campus, assisting organization’s transition to new leaders, and advocating for their thoughts and opinions.”

According to his platform, Hadick plans to increase communication throughout the various organizations and branches of student government, but he also wants to ensure the retention of institutional knowledge.

Though he is new to student government as a first-year student, he has spoken extensively with more senior members to better understand the process. Hadick feels that his relative inexperience could prove to be an asset. “I hope to bring a new perspective and fresh twist to the current procedures of the student body government.... I know that along the way there are going to be times when tough decisions need to be made, even if they are going to upset students. However, I must do what is in the best interest of the student body and organizations as a whole,” Hadick wrote.

Hadick is vice president of the First-Year Advisory Board for the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT). The board acts as the voice of first-year students in CIT and communicates with the administration, staff, and faculty.

He is also a member of the men’s club soccer team and a member of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Next year, he will be a member of the International Project Planning Committee of EWB, as well as an RA in Mudge House.

Fun Fact:

At the age of 14, Hadick became a U.S. Soccer Federation Referee. Now, going into his fifth summer as a referee, he will be promoted to a grade seven referee, which will allow him to referee soccer games across the continental U.S.

Jackson Michalak

Sophomore computer science and math double major Jackson Michalak is running for student body vice president for organizations (SBVPO) on a platform of reforming the room registration system and mature organizations re-recognition system, as well as giving organizations more help and support in recruiting.

Michalak said that the position of SBVPO involves representing students, but that the point of the position is to represent organizations themselves. He said that these roles overlap.

Michalak said he would reform the room reservation system, which student organizations use to reserve space for meetings and various activities. “I think it’s horrible to deal with,” Michalak said.

Michalak also wants to streamline the system of creating new organizations on campus. “I think there needs to be a clearer set of expectations for what is required for a new organization,” Michalak said. “For CoSO, I’ve been acting as the chair of new recognition, so I’m responsible for interacting with the new prospective organizations, to a large extent, to make sure their constitution is up to expectation and makes sense, and make sure that the structure that they’re trying to build will be stable.”

Part of the problem, Michalak said, is that there is no clear list of what the expectations of a new organization are. “If you go to the university’s website now, you go to the CoSO page — some of the information is out of date; it’s sort of ambiguous as to what the expectations are for a new organization. I do meet with an organization to help them with their constitution, [but] there are many things missing. There’s ideas that they didn’t realize were required, or weren’t required, and there’s all these sets of assumptions that don’t match up. So I think it would be nice to have one place where all of that would be clear.”

Another important area that some student organizations need help with is recruitment and general advice, according to Michalak. CoSO reaches out to support struggling organizations, and simply lacking membership is a very common problem. More generally, sometimes organizations need advice on how to improve day-to-day operations or special problems. “I think it would be good to have a better outlet for advice on these things with an organization,” Michalak said. “It’s a definite problem that should be addressed, and can be addressed reasonably.”

Michalak is a member of the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), Carnegie Mellon’s computer security club. He is also the chair of new recognition of the Committee on Student Organizations, as well as a regular observer of the University Center Allocation Board (UCAB). Michalak began attending meetings when he decided to run for SBVPO.

Fun Fact:

Michalak speaks Polish fluently.

Paul Kioko could not be reached for comment.