The thousands of colorful fliers with catchy slogans plastered around campus can only mean one thing: The ASSU elections are soon to come. On Wednesday and Thursday, students will be able to log into http://elections.stanford.edu to cast their votes for special-fees, class presidents and — the most closely watched race of all — the ASSU executive office. In order to give students an opportunity to get to know the executive office candidates, The Daily interviewed the three slates: Avalanche of Diversity (Chanderraj/Kemper), Carr/Castillo and Kannokada/Okonkwo.

The candidates will be debating issues and answering questions at the debate in Union Square, Tresidder at 7 p.m. today.

Kannokada/ Okonkwo

Background: Mechanical engineering major Melanie Kannokada is junior class president and involved with Kappa Alpha Theta, Cardinal Competitive Cheer, Stanford Taekwondo and the Hindi Film Dance Team. Vice Presidential candidate Aneto Okonkwo is majoring in management science and engineering and minoring in computer science. Okonkwo writes innovation columns for The Stanford Daily, is a member of the junior class presidents’ cabinet and works at the Black Student Union.

Main Issues: “We will focus on diversity and coalition building, [including] student voice in housing and dining, improving academic advising and programming, increasing support of the arts and athletics, and connecting the undergrad and grad communities,” Kannokada and Okonkwo said.

Biggest challenge they think they’ll face in office: “General apathy of the student body to have faith in the ASSU.”

Plans after Stanford: Kannokada hopes to found a “social venture focusing on sustainability or biomedical devices for developing nations” and Okonkwo plans to “lead high technology entrepreneurship in increasing access to technology in disadvantaged and developing communities and regions.”

Why they decided to run together: Kannokada and Okonkwo worked together this year on events for the Class of 2006 and did a technology entrepreneurship class project together last year. “We really enjoy working together and are able to come up with creative solutions and execute them quite efficiently,” they said. “Also, together we bring a wide diversity of leadership and experience with on-campus groups and communities and feel that our vast representation of various student groups and organizations would be very beneficial to the ASSU in making it more accessible to students.”

Endorsed by: Student Organizing Committee on the Arts (SOCA), Club Sports, Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Intersorority council (ISC).

Carr/Castillo

Background: Junior Victoria Carr, a sociology major, is the ASSU executive chief of staff, a Black Community Services Center program coordinator and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Junior Fernando Castillo is a mechanical engineering major who is a part of JUST Prison Reform, the Latino Recruitment Organization and El Centro Support Staff.

Main Issues: Carr and Castillo hope to address the “lack of communication [and] collaboration [among] Stanford students” as well as the need for a “campus-wide 24-hour space for studying, meeting and working out.” They also hope to strengthen the connection between the student body and the ASSU.

Biggest challenge they think they’ll face in office:

“The biggest challenge we would face as ASSU Executives is time,” Carr and Castillo said. “We want to make a lot of changes to the ASSU and meet as many students as possible, but we only have a year to do it. That’s why we both plan to spend the entire summer getting started on the job, as well as taking a reduced course load during next school year.”

Plans after Stanford: Carr plans to obtain a master’s degree in education and later pursue a career in educational policy as a policy advisor. Castillo plans to attend law school and then pursue a career in correctional and punishment policymaking.

Why they decided to run together: Although Carr and Castillo agree that they come from “very different backgrounds” in terms of extracurricular involvement, they feel that their different approaches “would allow [their] executive office to create unique and creative approaches to problems faced by all students.”

Endorsed by: Students of Color Coalition (SOCC) — consisting of the Asian American Students Association (AASA), the Black Student Union (BSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), and Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO) — and the Stanford Democrats.

Avalanche of Diversity

Background: Junior Rishi Chanderraj, a history major, devotes his extracurricular time fully to running for executive office. Carrie Kemper, a junior and an American studies major, has no extracurricular activities to list.

Main Issues: “We’re thinking big, but refuse to make empty promises to the student body,” Chanderraj and Kemper said. “During our tenure, we will accomplish three things: One, pull our troops out of Iraq at all costs; two, completely eliminate the national debt once and for all; and three, hold at least two Absolute Fun events each quarter, including fall.”

Biggest challenge they think they’ll face in office: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Chanderraj and Kemper said. “The ASSU executives are arguably the most powerful people in the Bay Area. We just hope that such power doesn’t get to our heads. We’re seriously worried that we might use executive power unethically — for our own personal profit and not for the benefit of the school.”

Plans after Stanford: “Our plans depend on one thing: winning this race. In fact, one of the main reasons we’re running for ASSU executive is to ensure that we have very successful and lucrative careers after Stanford. We all know that a Stanford ASSU president or vice president doesn’t not get into Harvard Law School or, by the same token, not get a job at Goldman Sachs. God forbid, if we don’t win, we’ll probably do Teach for America.”

Why they decided to run together: “Why wouldn’t we run together? We are in love with each other. It is as simple as that.”

Endorsed by: “We are not endorsed by any student groups. Like we said earlier, we’re thinking big, and what’s bigger than being endorsed by big business?” the pair said. “In the fall, we were offered sponsorship by hundreds of corporations. Trying to decide among them all was one big headache. A headache that was relieved only by the most advanced formula for pain on the market: Advil©.”