As the Student Government Association election season kicks off two parties have already cast their bid to represent the student body at the head of the 61st administration. The Cougar spoke with Students Unite and For All Cougars top candidates to learn a bit about their stances ahead of the coming race.
Voting will begin on Feb. 26 and continue until Feb. 29, providing students with the opportunity to cast their votes via Get Involved. In addition, a debate is scheduled for Feb. 19, during which candidates will showcase their platforms and respond to questions.
For All Cougars
For All Cougars, led by presidential candidate and biochemistry sophomore Diego Arriaga and vice presidential candidate sports administration junior Austin Craig, are pledging to address issues such as parking, campus safety and bolstering campus traditions.
Diego Arriaga (right) and Austin Craig (left) of For All Cougars.| Regan Grant/The Cougar
With a shared commitment to student advocacy and campus improvement, For All Cougars are rallying behind a platform focused on amplifying student voices and fostering positive change.
“Whether our party gets fully elected or not, we want to make sure that our main goal is keeping SGA a student advocacy group,” Craig said. “We need as many students as we can get to be involved, so we can take the voice of each college and amplify them correctly.”
Parking emerged as a central concern for For All Cougars, with a firm stance against the exorbitant fees students currently face for parking on campus.
“Why are students paying hundreds of dollars to simply park on the University campus? Especially now with the Sugar Land shuttle issues they’ve had,” Arriaga said. “I’m a commuter myself, so I definitely want to find a way to reduce the prices and make students’ lives easier.”
Following recent incidents of crime at UH, safety has become another major priority for the party.
“No one should feel unsafe on this campus,” Arriaga said, citing the importance of collaboration with law enforcement and Facilities and Construction Management to ensure a secure environment for all students.
In addition to these immediate concerns, For All Cougars underscored the significance of elevating the University’s status by aiming to secure a place among the top 50 institutions nationally.
Arriaga emphasized leveraging resources from associations like the Big 12 to foster community and tradition, thereby attracting more students and enhancing academic offerings.
“A lot of students come here and want to either transfer to another school or just go to class and immediately leave campus and that’s not what I want,” Arriaga said. “I want to build the tradition that UH has because I know we’re capable of becoming a top university.”
Reflecting on past elections characterized by division between competing factions, Arriaga expressed a commitment to promoting unity among students.
“This shouldn’t be aggressive. This shouldn’t be one side against the other,” Arriaga said. “I’ve seen previous administrations try to undo what other administrations have done, and that’s not what I want. We want to keep moving forward, not backwards.”
Students Unite
Students Unite, led by political science sophomore Cody Szell alongside his running mate political science sophomore Mohammad Tabbara, are pledging to focus on student academic success, campus affordability and campus community.
Vice presidential candidate Mohammad Tabbara (left) and presidential candidate Cody Szell (right) hope to secure another term for Students Unite| Regan Grant representing Students Unite!/ The Cougar
The party are the incumbents, and made up the vast majority of the Senate over the past year. While SGA President Benjamin Rizk will not be running for another term, it remains unclear whether or not he will still be involved with the administration should they win the election.
The two are veterans of SGA, with Tabbara serving on the executive board as Director of Multicultural Affairs and Szell representing the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences in the Senate.
Szell highlighted the importance of tackling academic grievances faced by students, citing concerns such as delays in academic advising and the availability of essential supplies like Scantrons.
“There are so many avenues for improvement here,” Szell said.
Despite acknowledging the limitations of their role in addressing systemic issues, the two remain hopeful that by addressing these concerns they can lay the foundation for positive change.
Students Unite aims to establish a committee dedicated to advocating for student workers. Szell stressed the insufficient representation of genuine issues faced by student workers, highlighting the necessity for a committee to represent their voices effectively.
“As a student getting paid $10 an hour, you can’t pay your tuition, meal plan and housing with that wage,” Tabbara said. “This issue connects to administrators who oversee the Student Fees Advisory Committee and SGA, so student workers need a platform to advocate for themselves.”
As the current administration has faced large amounts of vacancies, Students Unite! aims to provide incentives for senators to volunteer and maintain active positions.
“We want members of SGA to be out there helping people because there is only so much you can do in an email,” Tabbara said. “It’s important to have events and actually talk to the students so they can know what SGA is doing for them.”
The candidate emphasized the importance of fostering a culture where senators are encouraged to be strong advocates and are empowered to tackle issues creatively.
“We don’t want just a select group of people who know exactly how the school works. We want the senators to be starry-eyed,” Tabbara said.
That being said, the candidates outlined their commitment to pragmatic problem-solving by avoiding idealism in favor of achievable solutions grounded in student realities.
“We don’t want to be idealistic coming into this with ideas that we cant solve,” Tabbara said. “We want to be idealistic in the sense that we know what the issues are and how to solve them.”
