Four ASSU Executive slates have filed to vie for the titles of ASSU President and Vice President in this April’s annual election. Two of the slates comprise student government veterans, while the other two are made up of relative political novices.

Junior Class Executive Cabinet member Lakshmi Karra, who is running on a slate with Junior Class President Brett Hammon, said she thinks their separation from the ASSU is advantageous and important.

“We feel that we have maintained a healthy perspective on the ASSU as informed outsiders,” she said in an email to The Daily. “There is often the criticism that no one knows what the heck the ASSU is actually doing. We want to write a weekly ASSU update in The Daily to inform students as to what the ASSU is doing and keep us accountable.”

By contrast, two undergraduate senators — Senate chair Hershey Avula ‘08 and Campus Advocacy Committee chair Mondaire Jones ‘09 — spun a positive light on their insider status in the ASSU.

“Hershey and I believe that the breadth and depth of our ASSU involvement separates Avula/Jones from any other slate running in this year’s executive race,” Jones said in an email to The Daily. “We have demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to student programming and advocacy.

“We have developed an outstanding rapport with administrators and members of the Faculty Senate that will make it easier to negotiate with and navigate through the administration’s bureaucracy,” he added. “[This will allow us to] effectively advocate on behalf of student interests and to put on quality programming that promotes school spirit at the world-class university we call home.”

The less experienced slates, however, said that their lack of ASSU involvement makes them more attractive candidates.

Brian Truebe ‘08 is running with Folahan Olowoyeye ‘08. Truebe vowed to rev up student interest in the ASSU if elected.

“We will stop the nepotism in the ASSU, an organization which has aided in the marginalizing of student rights and the breeding and engendering of apathy in the student body,” he said in an email to The Daily. “You shouldn’t have to have past experience in the ASSU to lead the student body. The majority of students have probably never even interacted with the ASSU.”

Truebe, a Band member, has also made the Band’s full reinstatement a part of his campaign platform.

“The Stanford Band, a group which exemplified freedom, has been forced into a submissive role to the Athletics Department, the OSA and the administration because the destruction of school spirit is more important than daring to trust their own students,” he said. “Stanford traditions have become homogenized and the ASSU thinks it’s progress.”

Anthony Scodary ‘08 and Annie Wyman ‘08 represent The Chaparral, which sponsors an ASSU Executive slate in the election every year.

In the mold of prior Chappie slates, Scodary and Wyman are taking a non-traditional approach to the election.

“Stanford is full of students — students with needs and desires,” Scodary said in an email to The Daily. “Our goal is to discover those needs and desires and match them to our promises. Like gears in a cog, we encircle them with hopes that rotate about their desires.”

Scodary explained that he and Wyman are running not for personal gain, but for the good of the University.

“Annie Wyman and I are running for ASSU Executive not because we need to, but because Stanford needs us,” he said. “Every election season, you see a lot of candidates making promises, but I assure you Annie and I will make more.”

While candidates cannot officially begin campaigning until next quarter, three of the Executive slates have already created Facebook groups urging students to sign petitions to get them on the ballot — each slate must secure 200 electronic petition signatures by Mar. 5 in order to be eligible to run for ASSU positions.

Elections are scheduled for Apr. 11 and 12.