Associated Students of Oregon State University Presidential Candidate Dylan Perfect and Vice Presidential Candidate Emily Warren are campaigning under the slogan “Your Voice Matters,” on the pillars of accountability, transparency and representation. 

“We’re running for student body president and vice president because we really want to fight for the issues that matter to students, and to make sure that every student is part of the conversation. That’s why our campaign slogan is ‘Your voice matters’: We want to put students first, and we have the experience to show that we’ve been doing just that,” Perfect said. 

According to Warren, the ticket has “five years of collective experience in collegiate student government.” 

As senators, Perfect and Warren have both been advocates for increased student accessibility to the Associated Students of Oregon State University through the organization of advocacy days for students, and their and involvement in the archiving committee, which makes information on ASOSU meetings accessible to the public online. 

Perfect said that as senators, they sought to increase wellness for students. “As ASOSU senators, and also for me as the current coordinator of Government Relations for ASOSU, we’ve fought not only on the level of the university, but also on the state and federal level for policies ranging from medical amnesty and reporting amnesty regarding drug and alcohol overdoses on campus, to our advocacy on climate policy,” Perfect said. 

Additionally, one of their primary causes is lowering the cost of tuition to make college more affordable to students. “Our ticket in particular, wants to take this a step further by advocating for state investment in tuition-free public education past the K-12 level, because, when we’re looking at the cost of an in-state education going beyond six figures, quite frankly, that’s unacceptable, and it creates a real equity issue in terms of the affordability and accessibility of higher education. We want to remedy that and we think that ASOSU is in a unique position to do that,” Perfect said. 

Dylan was born and raised in Albany, Ore., where he’s “always been a beaver.” If elected, he said he also hopes to improve outreach between Oregon State students on the Cascades and Portland, Ore. satellite campuses. 

Warren is a first-generation college student who transferred from Umpqua Community College,  which is where she said she first “fell in love with student government.” 

“At that campus there’s a lot of non-traditional students and student parents, and I saw how critical those services [e.g. family resource programs] are for making sure that students have what they need to be successful. That’s why I’m still an advocate for underrepresented communities here at OSU,” Warren said.

If elected, Perfect and Warren have said that they hope to create significant changes within the university. 

“Our goal is to put forward the most progressive platform of any ticket in the race, focusing on the issues that really matter to students. And we believe that by putting students in key leadership positions, whether it’s on the faculty senate or within our own organization, maximizing representation is really how we get that done. That’s really the core of our campaign,” Perfect said. 

Warren encouraged students to contact them with issues they’re passionate about.

“If there’s any issue they want to make sure that we’re an advocate for, or to make sure that we’re already one, then they should reach out to us,” Warren said. 

Perfect and Warren can be reached through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the name “your voice matters OSU,” or through their website.