Students walking on Turlington Plaza and to the Reitz Union can express their ideas for changes on campus to help mold the Swamp Party’s platform.
Swamp Party representatives donning the party’s T-shirts invited students to write on whiteboards Monday. They will also be out today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to collect ideas for the party’s platform.
Among the suggestions scribbled in Sharpie markers were calls for more parking, more blue emergency lights and an effort to bring back UF’s mobile app.
Sen. Jamie Lowstetter said her favorite suggestion was for gender-neutral housing and bathrooms.
“It’s not like we’re going to people trying to campaign,” she said. “We’re just getting ideas.”
Swamp Party spokesman Elliot Grasso said the party will announce its official platform a week before the election.
Exploratory social and behavorial freshman Savannah Prose, 19, wrote she would like to see more outlets in the residence halls. She said she only has one outlet on her side of her room, and she has to plug in multiple extension cords, which can be a fire hazard.
“It helps them understand what the Student Body needs and wants to see changed,” Prose said.
Students Party spokesman Michael Christ said his party has been meeting with groups across campus to gather ideas for their platform. He said members will set up tables on Turlington Plaza and the Reitz Union Colonnade this week to talk to students. The Students Party plans to unveil its platform next week.
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
Gavin O’Leary, a 20-year-old UF nuclear engineering student, writes, “Campus needs more buses,” on a Swamp Party board.
