In her push for student body president, sophomore Saskia Harak is emphasizing a platform of increased student input into major projects, including the new student center proposal.

With the Davies Center proposal on the election ticket, Harak, 19, hopes that the plan goes through.

“If we don’t act soon and if we put this issue off for the future, we may run the risk of the cost of building increasing,” she said. “As well as the threat of the current building experiencing further problems with no new center on the horizon.”

If the referendum passes, she said she wants a majority of students on the Davies Center Expansion committee for the planning phase.

Harak began her career in senate as a member of the Intergovernmental Affairs Commission and then became the statewide coordinator for the initiative to link financial aid to tuition increases. She started this school year as an on-campus senator.

“I believe the most under represented issue on campus is community relations between the students and the neighborhoods,” she said.

Her goals include boosting attendance and awareness of neighborhood association meetings and the addition of a student representative to the differential tuition committee.

Her running mate, junior Kevin Funk, 20, focuses his time as a senator on transportation and finance issues.

“In addition to safety issues,” Funk said, “I dedicated a lot of time towards working with the administration on improving parking for students.”

Parking is the most important issue for students, Funk said. He supports the idea of a new parking lot on upper campus in the area outside of Crest Wellness Center, where an empty field is currently placed between the road and tennis courts.

He also said that the administration should improve the efficiency of the lower campus parking areas.

One of his ideas to alleviate the crowding in the Phillips parking lot would be to suggest pricing incentives for students parking in the Water Street and Haas Fine Arts lots.

Harak and Funk advocate the role of students in government and what Senate can do to improve the campus.

Representation is a given for all senators if they are running or not, she said, but going above and beyond is a bigger challenge. New ideas to further student priorities are needed to create positive change at the university.

“I believe that everyone is passionate about something,” Harak said. “You just have to find out what that issue is.”