My name is Dominic Donofrio and I am running for USG President along with my running mate Tony Stratis Vice President.

We’re running because we believe in you, The University of Akron students. We believe that your motivation, determination and success, in and out of the classroom, is what drives our university.

We as students have a mission. That mission is to get the education and the tools we need to prosper the rest of our lives. Through that mission we build a common bond that forms the Zips Spirit and our home here at UA.

Together as students and with that Zips Spirit, we can take a stand and overcome our biggest challenges. Whether it’s trying to make our education affordable, improving our services, fighting for students’ rights in the classroom or trying to make our campus safer, we have a plan. And that plan starts with you!

Our platform is comprised of five targets: Academics, student finances, campus life, safety and student health and wellness. We believe if we can fight and advocate for these issues, the experience of students here at UA will be enhanced.

Academics: You deserve every opportunity to succeed in the classroom and to take classes that will make you competitive when you graduate. Our academics plan fulfills that.

We want start by advocating for a higher quality academic advisement program. This will give our students the advantage they are paying for and deserve.

Fighting for students’ rights in the classroom is important to us. Too often students are barred from enhancing their education by having to subdue to rules dictated by faculty and staff in the classroom. Together, we can remove those barriers so you have a say in the classes you pay thousands of dollars to take.

In addition to the quality of the classroom, we want to advocate for an increase in the number of internship opportunities and quality of those internships. Internships can lead to future employment and we want to strengthen that bond and capitalize on it to help our students receive employment upon graduation.

We also want to advocate for an end to the Custom Book Program, universal use of springboard in all classes and have the university move to a universal grading scale.

Student finances: What is the number one reason students drop out of college? Money! Our finance plan is designed to ensure you have the best opportunity to have your college paid for and you will graduate with as little debt as possible.

It starts with giving you access and the ability to find every scholarship, grant and loan available to you. This can be done through our “One Stop Shop” program. It is designed so that you will login in to the university website and after filling in your credentials it will bring up a list of all that information and how to apply.

The next program we want to develop is a “For Students, By Students” program. Instead of having The University of Akron outsource the development of smartphone apps, web pages or any other development, we utilize students to help build and support those services. This will save the university money and it will help keep our costs as students low.

In addition, we want to see an expansion of our internship programs to help students and companies better connect and potentially invest in each other. These are just the first steps that we have to help students and their wallets.

Campus life: What is the college experience without being involved and meeting students with the same interests as you? We want to make it easier for you to join student organizations and for student organizations to market themselves to you. Student organizations also deserve more funding as our campus grows.

We want to advocate for a plan that will turn our UAF Funding allocation to be based on student population with a base cap of the amount we are currently allocated. This will give us the opportunity to give more money to student orgs as the population of students grows. We would also like to continue to fight to make it easier for students to organize and give them every opportunity to utilize UAF funds to better their experience.

In addition, we would like to enhance Greek Life on campus and bring them to the table for discussion about the Greek Village Project. Greek Life is an experience like no other. It is the ability to be filled with a rich heritage and have a brother or sister at your side to help and support you through the college experience. We want to elevate that experience and make it easier for Greeks to market themselves and expand here at UA.

Safety: We would like to advocate for USG, UA, the City of Akron and The University Park Alliance to all work together to enhance the safety on and around campus.

One major way we can contribute is to help advocate for safety corridors throughout areas that have high levels of student residents. These safety corridors are streets that have been upgraded with heavy lighting to help deter crime. In addition, we would like to help expand the UAPD House Watch program and enhance the quality of USG Safety Walks.

Student health and wellness: The University of Akron has a wealth of services available to students free of charge. These services include counseling, healthcare, accessibility accommodations and fitness resources.

We want to better promote these free services to the students so they can take the necessary steps needed to better themselves. Too often these services go unheard of and students who are in despite need of help and support fall through the cracks because they didn’t know of the opportunities they have here at UA. We want to make you more informed so you can utilize every service available to you.we can take a stand and overcome our biggest challenges. Whether it’s trying to make our education affordable, improving our services, fighting for student’s rights in the classroom, or trying to make our campus safer, we have a plan. And that plan, starts with you!we can take a stand and overcome our biggest challenges. Whether it’s trying to make our education affordable, improving our services, fighting for student’s rights in the classroom, or trying to make our campus safer, we have a plan. And that plan, starts with you!ome here at UA. Together, as students and with that Zip’s Spirit, we can take a stand and overcome our biggest challenges. Whether it’s trying to make our education affordable, improving our services, fighting for student’s rights in the classroom, or trying to make our campus safer, we have a plan. And that plan, starts with you!

We have the ability to make a difference here on campus and are ready to fight and advocate for you. These goals and plans are possible, but we cannot accomplish all of them without your help.

Vote Donofrio-Stratis USG President-Vice President. Voting is on Zipline Feb. 29-March 7. Go Zips!

-Dominic J Donofrio

This is a letter to the editor.  The Buchtelite does not endorse any candidate in any way.  We accept all letters to the editor, and any candidate is welcome to submit any letter.