A CUSG debate is moderated by the CU Independent in the Center for Academic Success and Engagement Auditorium on Wednesday night. March 25, 2026. (Sagan Randall/CU Independent)
Amidst the spring student government election at the University of Colorado Boulder, legislative candidates participated in a debate on Wednesday at the Center for Academic Success and Engagement. It was moderated by CU Independent managing editor Satori Griffith and news editor Avery Clifton.
Representative at-large and tri-executive candidates shared their values across current issues, including government transparency, living costs, sustainability, safety and student health. Candidates debated different approaches and measures to address the issues.
CU Student Government is large, autonomous and responsible for over $37 million in student fees each year. Previously, it allocated student fees to fund renovations for facilities like the University Memorial Center and Student Recreation Center. It also funds student services like CU NightRide and the Center for Student Involvement, which supports over 500 student clubs.
Six of the eight candidates running for representative at-large seats attended; they represent student body voices across all major programs. There were also three running tri-executive tickets, which are leadership units of three student body presidents.
The ACE ticket — which stands for Action, Cost and Efficiency — is led by juniors Freya Nagy, Brylan Graber and Kerem Gurkham. All three have prior experience in campus leadership, including involvement with the Residence Hall Association, Environmental Board, President’s Leadership Class and CUSG Legislative Council.
Gurkham, a computer science and math double major, mentioned there’s only been one other College of Engineering student elected to tri-executive in the last 25 years.
“That means College of Engineering voices aren’t particularly heard, and thus, a lot of engineers feel disenfranchised,” he said. “One of the biggest things for me is: how do we get their voices heard?”
The Summit ticket is juniors Karla Castillo, Rowan Hillhouse and Jake Siemsen. Their pillars of focus include autonomy, equity and community. The ticket’s name refers to climbing on top of previous leaders’ work by continuing their legacy while proposing new changes.
All Summit candidates currently hold CUSG Executive Branch positions. Hillhouse is the chief of staff, Castillo is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion and Siemsen is the director of strategic communications.
Freshman Temi Bello, sophomore Paige Javor and junior Ryan Falender comprise the OneCU ticket. Their four pillars of focus are impact, student voice, transparency and campus safety. Falender is a finance major who serves on the CUSG finance board. Javor holds executive positions in two student organizations and Bello has a background in data analytics and budget allocation for nonprofits.
“Compared to the other tickets, we might not have as much CUSG experience, but what we do bring is a more generalized perspective towards the student body,” Javor said. “That is the population we are representing in the end.”
But the OneCU ticket isn’t without controversy.
Jude Benton, a sophomore member of Tau Kappa Epsilon who identifies as Black, alleged that Javor called him a racial slur while the two were at a fraternity event in April 2025. The former TKE vice president, Danny McSwain, allegedly removed Javor after the incident and banned her from the fraternity house.
“I don’t think that someone who said that word very, very comfortably and out of nowhere should be someone in a position of leadership,” Benton says.
In a statement to the CU Independent, Javor said the incident never happened.
“It is completely untrue. It began with a false allegation that I used the n-word in a conversation at a fraternity,” she said. “I could not be more committed to attending a university that prides itself on equality, compassion, and inclusiveness. There is no room for this form of bullying by spreading false rumors.”
Communication and defying federal crackdowns
The moderators asked candidates what they perceive to be the biggest issues on campus. All representative at-large candidates agreed that there needs to be more transparency and communication between the CU administration, student government and the student body.
CUSG launched a Canvas page in early March as part of its Transparency and Literacy Project. The page features direct contact to current CUSG members and provides descriptions of campus services and centers that receive funding from student fees. Candidates referenced it throughout as a stepping stone to open communication across campus.
“I think that a lot of students on campus really underestimate what they can do with us to really work on things that they won’t get fixed,” incumbent representative candidate Jacob Davies said.
Davies, a sophomore, also proposed reinstating a newsletter to inform students how their fees are used. Sophomore representative candidates Charlie Murphy and Ewan Gallagher are part of Greek Life, which they said is an outlet to connect with various student organizations like the Interfraternity Council on the Hill.
Moderators asked tri-executive candidates how they plan to support recognized student organizations (RSOs), another avenue to building relationships with students .
If elected, ACE wants to appoint six RSO liaisons to its cabinet to guarantee communication between clubs and student government. Freya Nagy said ACE connected with 20 RSOs and current student government members in recent months.
“We want to continue a lot of that work, to continue to form that community,” she said.
OneCU candidate Falender said the CUSG finance board increased RSO funding by $40,000 this year. He also uplifted the RSO portal, BuffConnect, as a huge but underutilized resource.
Representative candidate Cole Beatty, a sophomore transfer student, proposed a requirement to keep CU websites up to date to build trustworthiness. He said online resources were critical when he transferred, but information was often old or inaccessible.
“To be able to adapt quickly, you need to have that information clear in front of you,” Beatty said.
There were also anti-Trump administration sentiments among some candidates. Newcomer representative candidate Owen Andrews said CU is complicit with the Trump administration by continuing a contract with Key Lime Air. The airline has facilitated both CU athletes’ travel and deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Andrews called for CU to sever the contract and condemned ICE on campus.
“I want CU Boulder to become a sanctuary campus,” he said. “Which would mean refusing ICE agents entering buildings without proper judicial warrant, discooperation between CU Police Department and ICE agents and giving resources to students who’ve been deported through online schooling to finish their degrees.”
Hillhouse with Summit said another campus-wide issue is the Trump administration’s attack on higher education. She said that her ticket will continue to protect freedom of speech and discourse in classrooms.
Living costs
Candidates also discussed the rising cost of living in Boulder.
“I think we can all agree that the housing at CU is pretty abysmal. We shouldn’t be having to pay, like, $2,000,” representative candidate Gallagher said.
Incumbent representative candidate Davies agreed with Gallagher and amplified the importance of CUSG’s Off-Campus Life Board.
“We need to find a way to make housing more affordable or more accessible for all these students who are looking to be close to campus, because not everyone has the ability to afford a car or sometimes even a bike,” Davies said.
Representative candidate Andrews, a member of Young Democratic Socialists of America, encouraged tenancy unions to mobilize off-campus students and collectively bargain for lower rent. He also hopes to lower prices of products sold on campus and partner with grocery stores to increase student discounts.
Bello with OneCU admitted CUSG can only influence and advocate for lower rent, but it has more control over transportation costs. He said OneCU would address concerns of expensive parking and would reallocate funding to scholarships. Incumbent representative candidate Murphy also wants to increase access to temporary parking on campus.
ACE candidate Graber said his ticket is creating a system to allocate parking permits based on commute time instead of seniority. He proposed partnering with the Environmental Center and Off-Campus Life office to expand CU’s move-out programs to the University Hill. Fellow ACE candidate Gurkham also wants to create an online student marketplace to promote buying used goods for less.
In collaboration with IFC On the Hill, other student organizations and city council members, Siemsen with Summit said he is working on a website for students to petition for “better quality of life for what you’re paying for” or lower rent prices.
“I want to increase this initiative, to build this petition through tri-executive to try to make living on the Hill and on other parts of campus more affordable,” Siemsen said.
Student health and safety
Incumbent representative candidate Bridget Lombillo, a sophomore, said walking on campus could be safer if there were more bike lanes. She’s also on the CUSG Recreation Board.
“The Rec Center is a super integral part of our campus. It’s really important,” she said. “A lot of students use it, and so we’re working on engagement in the Rec, involvement and ways to make students feel seen in those spaces.”
Javor with OneCU raised campus safety concerns and addressed the disappearance and death of 18-year-old CU student Megan Trussell in February 2025; the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced it will review Trussell’s case. She referenced Trussell’s family’s allegations that there are possible gaps in campus surveillance footage, which impacted Trussell’s last sightings. Javor said her passion project would be reinstating and expanding a blue light emergency system on campus, which were removed from campus in 2015 after misuse.
“Students walking around intoxicated on the Hill at night in dark areas, it’s not safe,” she said. “I feel like more lighting, more security cameras, could be more beneficial to ensuring safety.”
Graber with ACE said that blue light maintenance cost $110,000 annually, and suggested increasing campus lighting as a better solution.
Summit candidate Castillo also mentioned a long-term project to address sexual assault and relationship dangers on campus that she hopes to continue as a tri-executive. As referenced in the 2025 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, CU saw an increase in rape reports on campus, from 36 reported in 2023 to 96 in 2024. Castillo proposed reestablishing a women’s resource center on campus.
“I think that making sure that we are keeping students aware is super important,” she said. “Along with that, I believe that we need to be creating more safe spaces for students to report.”
Sustainability
Moderators asked the candidates to share proposed measures that promote sustainability at CU. Representative candidate Andrews condemned CU’s recent $2 million contract with OpenAI and said he will fight to sever it. He attributed AI data centers’ high water usage to current and future water scarcity.
“I would argue that in the face of water scarcity, there can be no ethical usage of something like AI,” Andrews said.
Representative candidate Gallagher proposed more campus and University Hill clean ups. Incumbent Davies added that there should be more trash and recycling bins dispersed on campus.
Representative candidate Lombillo suggested clarifying composting efforts around campus. ACE candidate Graber further built on Lombillo’s sentiment and suggested working with the City of Boulder to create a new partnership with a compost center.
He also said ACE aims to create a more robust bus system to sustainably reduce emissions. This would include adding a Buff Bus stop at Aurora Avenue and 30th Street.
Summit candidate Hillhouse mentioned an initiative to provide skiing and outdoors opportunities to students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. Summit wants to bring skis back to the Rec Center.
“Giving students opportunity and the accessibility to experience the outdoors,” Hillhouse said. “To have that connection with sustainability and the ways that our campus can specifically influence sustainability.”
Voting for representative-at-large and tri-executive candidates is open until 5 p.m. on Friday. Access the voting page through the Buff Portal.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sarah Taylor at Sarah.Taylor@colorado.edu
