After surviving a merger, the party has spoken.
The newly formed Student Alliance Party, a conglomerate of the former Orange and Blue and Progress parties, has announced its party leaders for February’s Student Government elections.
Former Orange and Blue Party Sen. Ben Cavataro is the Student Alliance Party candidate for Student Body president, and former Progress Party Sen. Dave Schneider will be the party president.
Cavataro said the party hopes to bring together students from different organizations and activities across campus to make the SG budget more transparent and protect Bright Futures funds.
“All of these segments are going to come together, and our party is going to be very broad-based,” Cavataro said.
“We’re very optimistic,” he said. “We think people are hungry for new leadership.”
Cavataro said he thinks students want to move in a new direction.
“We need a Student Government that’s going to stand up, not stand around,” he said.
He cited the Reitz Union fee as an example and said the party’s campaign will focus on gathering student opinions about potential fee increases.
Unite Party spokesman Ben Meyers said the Unite Party’s campaign strategies will not be influenced by the creation of the new party.
Meyers said the Unite Party has been successful so far due to the experience of its members, its ideas and open lines of communication with the Student Body.
He said the Unite Party will be announcing its candidates Monday at 3 p.m. on Turlington Plaza.