Meet the presidential tickets: Providence Ilisevich & Ehren Elder
USG presidential candidate Providence Ilisevich — Kenneth Rodriguez-Clisham | Daily Trojan
Providence Ilisevich and Ehren Elder hope to bring an outside perspective with insider knowledge to Undergraduate Student Government. A junior studying industrial and systems engineering from Potomac, Md., Ilisevich hopes to take on the role of president. Her running mate, Elder, is a junior from Los Altos, California double majoring in philosophy, politics and law and economics. The two worked together extensively this year before deciding to run together.
“I couldn’t believe in someone more than [Providence],” Elder said. “She’s so passionate, so talented and so knowledgeable about the issues she cares about.”
Ilisevich and Elder’s range of campus involvement provides them with a breadth of experience that they can use next year if elected. Besides being a Senate aide her sophomore year and a Greek senator this year within USG, Ilisevich has also participated in RISE Student Alliance, Alpha Pi Mu and Women and Youth Supporting Each Other.
Ilisevich’s running mate, Ehren Elder — Kenneth Rodriguez-Clisham | Daily Trojan
Elder, on the other hand, has a different perspective on student life as a result of his experiences as an orientation advisor, spirit leader and executive vice president and director of Greek education of the Interfraternity Council. Though Elder was never an official part of USG, he has worked extensively with its members in the past.
“We have the balance as a ticket of inside and outside experience,” Ilisevich said. “Ehren brings in this outside perspective as a leader who has served the school in many different aspects and who has worked closely with [Vice Provost of Student Affairs] Dr. [Ainsley] Carry and other administrators, but who also knows what it’s like to be a student not in USG and to face the frustration of not being able to get to the table.”
Ilisevich and Elder run on the platform “Because your voice matters.” Design by Samantha Chiu
Ilisevich and Elder are running under the platform “because your voice matters.” In an effort to bring a stronger student voice to USG and administrators, they have reached out to different on-campus organizations to gain a better understanding of students’ concerns and have expressed interest in organizing town hall meetings to allows students to meet with administrators to discuss important issues, as well as having senators make the most of their external office hours. The duo wants to implement more of an open-door policy that would allow students to freely express their thoughts.
“I think there is a need at this university for more of a focus on the student voice and the experiences of current students, and I think that with a new provost coming this spring, it’s an incredible opportunity for us to reframe the conversation and reexamine the relationship administrators have with students,” Elder said.
Besides establishing a stronger student voice in university affairs, Ilisevich and Elder also hope to implement changes to student life, the academic experience, safety, wellness and sustainability. They support ongoing work of student advocates for gender-neutral housing and bathrooms and would like to begin initiatives to create programming space, a fall break and longer library hours. Ilisevich also hopes to build on her current successful partnership with Academic Affairs in extending the drop deadline to seven weeks. Both want to increase the number of two-unit art classes and other electives that are available to students and push for more student input in the curriculum.
“A lot of parts of academics in higher education can sometimes just be focused on research, but I think it’s really important to have a university that’s focusing on all aspects of the academic experience,” Ilisevich said.
Another key component of their platform is addressing sexual assault. Ilisevich and Elder hope to improve on-campus resources for the survivors of sexual assaults, whether in the form of prevention programming or more training and advocates that can connect students to the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica, California.
“For sexual assault, there’s a great opportunity to work on specific programming that will empower student leaders within their respective organizations to really make change and plant seeds that will change the dialogue,” Elder said.
Ilisevich and Elder, aware of the challenges that come along with implementing such changes and policies, plan on using their connections and their past leadership experience to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between USG and the student body and between the student body and administrators.
Having served in student government and worked on multiple committees, Ilisevich feels that she has seen it from the inside. Meanwhile, Elder sees himself as providing an outside set of eyes and ears. The two may have worked in separate spheres of student life in the past — which does have some overlap, as both are leaders in the Greek community — but if elected, they are confident that they will make an effective team.