Composed entirely of SG outsiders, Uncommon Fun hopes to use their third party status to effect change.
The candidates decided to run after becoming frustrated by what they saw as inefficiencies and conflicts-of-interest in the current SG system, said second-year and candidate for vice president of administration Dexter N. O’Connell.
“It’s about personal responsibility for decision making. We feel that we bring to the table people who will be 100-percent accountable for our decisions. We’re not doing this as a résumé thing or things of that nature. We want people to know that we’re upfront, that we actually care about the individual issues that come forward,” O’Connell said.
Third-year and presidential candidate Adam Hemmings has leadership experience under his belt as the current king of Kemetia, a micronation he founded in 2005 with many of the voting members being U of C affiliates. When Hemmings ran into difficulty when proposing his RSO–Students for the Advancement of Kemetia (SAK)–he felt that SG needed more accountability.
While the RSO was eventually approved, the trio decided to make RSO and funding decisions central to their campaign, according to third-year and candidate for vice president for student affairs Nicho Kelly.
The slate also hopes to make SG more accessible to students.
“I feel previous student governments have been very disconnected from the student body. And I think that they don’t take a personal approach to the individual students. …I think that that’s really, really what the job of student government is: championing the issues that students face in their lives, every day of the week,” Hemmings said.
According to O’Connell, Uncommon Fun’s stance as current SG outsiders gives the slate a unique position to bring reform to the system.
“The tried-and-true is only partially working right now. We need to try something else to try to get more of the changes that we’d like,” O’Connell said.
Hemmings agreed, adding that Uncommon Fun would be able to hold the Administration accountable to students.
“We’re going to take no more rubbish from the Administration. They’re going to do what we want, when we want it. Obviously within the bounds of the legal framework of the University, but the fact is no more rubbish,” Hemmings said.
Five Proposals:
1. Transportation: Text Safe Ride feature and reduced fare transit cards. Reroute Roosevelt shuttle to red and green lines.
2. Dining: Expand late-night dining over the weekends. Increase number of student-run cafés.
3. Registration: Have professors post old syllabi in Time Schedules. Include grading information in course evaluations.
4. Socially Responsible Investment: Work towards making University investments more transparent and ethical.
5. Community: Integrate with the surrounding area and reach out to aldermen.
