With the 2016 GUSA Executive Election just four days away, the Voice sat down with a representative of the Hot Chick and Chicken Madness campaign. Running on the slogan “Two Chicks, One Georgetown,” the perennial write-in candidate Chicken Madness has paired with another Wisey’s classic, the Hot Chick, to make a run for the executive this year. In an interview with their campaign manager, Anirudha Vaddadi (SFS ‘16), he made the case for why his candidates will “fight for a fresher Georgetown.”
The Voice: Ok, so let’s start with the basics. Your campaign is fried without a budget. Do you plan on submitting one?
Anirudha Vaddadi: We actually did submit a budget to the Election Commission [on Thursday].
TV: Awesome. So what campus issues really ruffle your feathers?
AV: I think one thing is really inclusion on Georgetown’s campus. Sometimes people felt left out in the process in GUSA and what we wanted to make sure is that everyone has a voice in the new student government and has an equal say.
TV: Ok. So we’ve yet to see an official platform from your campaign. Can your break your campaign’s platform into bite-sized nuggets for us?
AV: Sure, actually we just uploaded our platform yesterday. If you want, I’ll just go ahead and pull it up and I can talk about some of the main talking points for you.
Our first main area is we deliver change in 15 to 20 minutes. We guarantee that. We will be quick to respond to anyone’s needs. If not, you can just have somebody else’s order if it’s already pre-made. That’s our first and foremost thing. We are very receptive, and we are very quick to act.
Second, like I said before, we believe in diversity and inclusion. No one should be judged for the type of sandwich they want or what kind of order they want, what kind of toppings they want. Even if they don’t want bread, if they’re gluten-free, we respect that. We believe that everyone has a certain place here on campus regardless of their likes and dislikes and decisions.
We also emphasize the right for people to have the food they want, especially Wisey’s sandwiches. If elected, we will provide greater meal plan flexibility on campus, and that’s going to ensure students have the choice to choose where they want. We’re hoping to end up eating more Wisey’s sandwiches, but we want to give them their option.
Fourth, one thing we really noticed is that people love eating Wisey’s sandwiches but they really struggle to find a place to eat them. That’s really because there’s a big lack of student space on campus so when elected, we really will push to have more student spaces for studying, for eating, for really just enjoying their sandwiches, because you know if you don’t have a space to enjoy, if you’re standing there, walking around eating, you’re going to spill grease and cheese all over the place and you don’t really want that. So that’s really one thing we’re going to push for.
Another thing is we really want to emphasize worker rights because a happy worker makes a happy sandwich. So whether you’re a student worker or non-student worker, we really want to make sure that you’re getting paid fair wages and that you’re in the right working conditions, especially for the non-student workers.
And as a work of art ourselves, we’ll also push for the proliferation of the arts at Georgetown whether it’s music, whether it’s art, all kinds of forms of expression. We want to encourage that at Georgetown to continue. We definitely see that as lacking here on campus.
TV: What makes your ticket more digestible than Enushe and Chris?
AV: I think the first thing is that we have very straightforward ideas that are very concise and will actually get done. With all due respect to Enushe and Chris, they are good candidates but we think we are the best because we have been here for decades on campus, and we have seen what Georgetown needs. They’ve only been here for three years. We really know what students want and we know how to get those things done. We like to think we know the students at Georgetown the best.
TV: So as far as we can tell, your candidates seem to have no previous experience in student government. If elected, how do we know they won’t chicken out?
AV: That’s a good question. I think it’s less important about who you elect for GUSA, it’s more about how those people who are elected elect to help serve them on their new government. Just last year we had a non-insider ticket win the election. Maybe there are questions about their ability to lead but so far, they have delivered pretty well and continuing on that kind of tradition, it really goes to show that it’s all about who you have in your government, who you have as advisors. And at the end of the day, the question we want to ask students at Georgetown is this: who do you want to represent Georgetown? Do you want GUSA insiders who have been really out of touch with what students need and want or do you want candidates who really know Georgetown really well, inside-out and who can be really the front face for Georgetown?
TV: Last question: What’s your favorite Booey’s sandwich?
AV: I don’t know what that means. What is Booey’s?
TV: It’s a sandwich restaurant in Georgetown.
AV: I’ve never heard of it.
Editor’s Note: Check back here tomorrow for an interview with GUSA candidates Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Chris Fisk (COL ’17).
