As elections draw to a close, I want to personally thank you for putting up with the annual craziness involved in SGA campaigning. The New Deal has gone to great lengths to make sure what we are promoting is worth your time and your vote.

Before we launched our campaign, we met with students and administrators to discuss our plans. Rodney Bennett, dean of students, said the Student Allocation of the Student Activity Fee is 100 percent feasible. Stewardship of these fees will hold the organization to an unprecedented level of accountability.

We adhere to the simple belief that elected students should be responsible for the allocation of the Student Activity Fee. As a Student Government, we will give students the choice to completely redefine SGA – the association of which you are all voting members – and endow students with allocation responsibility at the end of our term.

Student government is more than lollipops and T-shirts. Approachability and advocacy should be ground zero for any administration, but SGA needs to show up and show out, or go home.

The organization cannot sell pipe dreams with no level of accountability. That’s why students will have a second choice at the end of our term: if we cannot make good on what we have pledged, we will allow you the opportunity to call SGA what it really is: a “Student Association”- serving primarily as a lobbying firm.

Who do you want up to bat for you when another fee from the Board of Regents comes down the pipes? When minimum sanctions cross the line? Or when you get a C- (what used to be average) in a major course?

You deserve to know where your candidates stand before you vote, and we have been clear from day one.

We want students to allocate their money to best serve their interests. We want the C- to count for a passing grade in all classes. We want students to get from Point A to Point B safely across campus when they need it.

We want students to be able to eat on their schedule without facing additional costs. We want students to have a fair judicial process. You can find out more about these ideas and others at www.uganewdeal.com.

Aside from our dedication to improving this university and student body, there is little similarity in the two choices for executive office. Before you vote, we ask you to think about where SGA is now and where you want it to be. We will redefine our student government. We are ready for the hard questions, the breaking curveball and for you to be our umpire.

We ask you to join us in unifying our campus. We ask for your vote.

- Katie Barlow is the presidential candidate for the New Deal.