Ethan Lower

Director of Governmental Affairs candidate for USG. 

Director of Governmental Affairs candidate for USG. 

Director of Governmental Affairs Candidate 

Q: What is your platform? 

A: “My platform consists of three main points. The first one is promoting inclusion on campus. I work as a residence assistant and I understand that our students come from diverse backgrounds, both political and socioeconomically, so I want to make sure in my decision making that I’m uplifting marginalized voices. My second point is to promote open dialogue. As we enter the 2020 elections, there’s going to be a really controversial political atmosphere and as Director of Governmental Affairs, one of my roles is to remain a non-partisan, fair voice. 

With my experience working with the May 4th Task Force, I’m the chair, I understand what political controversy looks like and I know how to navigate that. For my third point, it’s to create an automatic voter registration program for incoming freshmen. I already work with current director, Tiera Moore, and she runs Kent State Votes. It’s been really awesome working with her and I feel like she’d done a lot for the programs so I want to build off of that.”

Q: Why should people vote for you?

A: “Among that platform, I have a ton of leadership experience and experience in all different areas both political and non-political. As a residence assistant, I know people who go here, I’m familiar with a ton of people that live on campus. It gives me a great sense of what Kent State students are looking for. I’m also a Campus Election Engagement project fellow, which is a non-partisan voter engagement organization that has fellows across college campuses, across the nation.” 

Q: What changes are you looking to enact? 

A: “The biggest one is to start automatic voter registration for incoming freshmen, to get people registered. They can vote or they don’t have to, but as long as they are registered in Ohio, then they should be good to go, they can make their choices. I’m looking to give this position some involvement with May 4th. That’s something that I’m already involved in, as I’m on the University Planning Committee and I run the May 4th Task Force, as I mentioned. I feel like the Director for Governmental Affairs should be involved in planning, or at least be active in something that was so political on this campus.”