Platform goals

• Reduce the cost of liability insurance for greek organizations
• Initiate mandatory diversity and sexual assault training for student leaders
• Work to increase state funding and lower tuition

Most important issues facing Penn State students

Ablan and Aucker said the biggest concerns facing students are the high cost of tuition and climate issues such as racial intolerance and sexual assault.

To help lower tuition, Ablan and Aucker said they plan to lobby for greater state appropriations and create a fixed tuition rate for incoming students that will not be subject to yearly increases.

The pair wants to address campus climate issues by implementing mandatory diversity and sexual assault training for all student leaders. They also hope to incorporate life-skill courses into the First-Year Seminar curriculum and improve communication with the Centre Area Transportation Authority to ensure that buses run on schedule.

Motivation for running

Ablan said he and Aucker have been student leaders for many years, starting as leaders at Penn State Schuylkill, where Ablan served as Student Government Association president and Aucker served as SGA Senate chairman.

Previous community/university involvement

Ablan is currently the only undergraduate voting member of the Commission on Racial/Ethnic Diversity (CORED). He is co-chair of CORED's student issues management team and has served as the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG) diversity affairs director for the last year. Aucker is currently CCSG's information technology chair.

-- by Kristin Colella