Getting more student input on budgets, improving diversity on campus, increasing Student Action Team involvement at the state capitol level and improving academics are just a few of the actions members of the Students’ Voice Party want to carry out if elected.

The Students’ Voice Party is the first to announce its candidacy for Student Government elections set to take place April 16 and 17.

The members of the party are Alison Mormino for student body president; Marty Ruhaak for student vice president of public affairs; Ronnie Deedrick for student vice president for academic affairs; Amy Leonard for student vice president for financial affairs and Lisa Flam running for vice president for student affairs.

Marty Ruhaak, the candidate for public affairs, is a sophomore history major from Bourbonnais. He is the current chair of the External Relations Committee, active on the Student Action Team and is past chair of the Student Relations Committee.

In the public affairs position, Ruhaak would serve as a student member of Eastern’s Board of Trustees.

He wants to increase the involvement of the Student Action Team, which lobbies at the state capitol on Eastern’s behalf for additional funding. He calls the team an invaluable resource, but it has not been to the capitol as much this year as it should have been.

Establishing a relationship with Springfield will be very important, he said.

“The Student Action Team is part of doing that,” Ruhaak said.

Ruhaak’s third goal is to get Project 21 more fairly applied, rather than strictly affecting college towns.

“I think (Project 21) needs to apply to everyone and not just college students,” he said.

Ronnie Deedrick, the candidate for academic affairs, is a sophomore political science major from Newton. He has served on the Student Senate for three semesters, and has been chair of the Student Relations Committee, Internal Affairs Committee and the Shuttle Bus Committee.

One of his primary goals is to keep academic programs at their current level with the current budget. He says programs should not be expanded at the expense of students’ education.

“I really want to focus on academics,” he said.

A program Deedrick hopes to implement is a database called “Pick-a-Prof,” which would enable students to find out class information, syllabus, grades the teacher issued for the past semester and student evaluations.

He said the program would help students to “know what they’re getting into before they register for classes.”

The database is sponsored by an outside company, which would monitor what is being said within the university, he said. About 40 colleges across the country take part in this program.

Deedrick’s other goals include getting more student input in faculty hiring for academic departments that do not currently seek the input, and work on student assessment.

“I want to assure that assessment is as student friendly as possible,” Deedrick said.

It is important to work with the assessment process since there is an increased reliance on assessment on the departmental and university level, he said.

Amy Leonard, the party’s candidate for financial affairs, is a sophomore political science major from Hampshire. She has served on the senate, the Apportionment Board, the Parking Committee and the University Development and Recycling Committee.

A chief concern of Leonard’s is to have a workable budget and have student input in that process. She says this is very important with this year and next year’s budget difficulties.

“We need someone who is going to take initiative to get things done,” she said.

She also sees working toward private donations, government grants and pursuing alumni donations as another important goal.

One last project Leonard will work on is that of frozen tuition. This project was worked on briefly last year, and researched this year. Such a program would guarantee incoming students the same tuition throughout their college career by estimating inflation, Leonard said. The program saves students money in the long run, she said.

Lisa Flam, the candidate for student affairs, is a sophomore speech communication and journalism major from Decatur. She currently serves on the External Relations Committee.

A personal goal of hers is to make a difference in diversity.

“That’s just been something that’s always bothered me,” she said.

Having gone to a small high school, Flam said she hoped to see more diversity when she came to Eastern.

Her idea is to start with Recognized Student Organizations, and have them work together on campus improvement and community service projects. These types of projects would help people look outside their circle and meet new people, she said.

Another goal is continued work on getting community involvement and support for the Panther Card to be used at area businesses, she said.

A project to help the problem of low turnout in student elections is the prospect of online voting.

“It’s just easier to reach the students that way,” she said.