SGA senators Connor Ranes and Ben Negin declared their candidacy for student body president and vice president Feb. 10.

The Ranes/Negin campaign is focused on diversity and inclusion, parking reform, sustainability and mental health.

Presidential candidate Ranes said as soon as he is sworn in, he plans to declare racism as a public health crisis.

“Because it is,” said Ranes, a sophomore psychology and political science double major from Hillsborough. “It would also alert our students and community that we need to come together to combat racism in our communities.”

Ranes has been a senator since 2020. As a senator, he wrote the Mental Health Days Act and was involved in a bill advocating to move up App State’s climate neutrality to 2025.

“Mental health is very important to me, getting more mental health resources for our students and just destigmatizing mental health on our campus,” Ranes said. “Sustainability, climate change is something that affects each and every one of us, and so it’s really important to fight climate change and be as sustainable as we can as a campus.”

Ranes hopes to integrate sustainability into parking by increasing parking spots for students and including charging stations for electric vehicles.

Vice presidential candidate Negin’s first bill was the Diversity and Inclusion Act, which he said solidified SGA cabinet and committee positions working on diversity and inclusion issues.

Negin said he has worked with Planned Parenthood to find ways of getting more menstrual products to students.

“For myself, as a queer person and a queer leader, but also just promoting D&I at a PWI, it’s very important,” said Negin, a sophomore political science major.

Negin also wants to expand programs allowing students to change their names on AppCards and said he already has a meeting scheduled to discuss those changes.

Additional information about the Ranes/Negin campaign can be found on their Instagram, @ranesnegin22.