Note: Joel Meier is an active member of The Spectator. The Spectator is a bipartisan publication and therefore is not affiliated with the Buttafouco/Meier campaign.

Anna Ziebell and Joe Murphy

Anna Ziebell, a fourth-year political science student, is running for UW-Eau Claire student body president alongside vice presidential candidate Joe Murphy, a fourth-year information systems student.

Ziebell and Murphy’s campaign slogan is “Moving Forward Together.”

Ziebell has served as a part of the student senate for the past three years. Last year, she served as student body vice president.

Murphy has served as the Information and Technology Commission director and has been in the student senate for the past two years.

Ziebell and Murphy’s campaign platform is based on four main pillars: equity and advocacy, sustainability, transparency and accountability, and student housing.

“We want to make sure that all things we do going forward have sustainability in mind and at the forefront,” Murphy said, “rather than creating Band-Aid solutions that are only going to help and not solve problems.”

Ziebell emphasized the importance of advocating for the students’ needs and making sure the administration is held accountable for how they treat the student body.

“Administration has failed to adequately communicate to students and we want to hold them accountable,” Ziebell said.

Ziebell said she enjoys being involved on campus in positions of leadership.

“Being able to make connections with students and being able to listen to concerns and look at different ways we can address those is something that I really enjoy. I enjoy that outreach,” she said.

Ziebell acknowledged that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and various social concerns, it has been a difficult year and she wants to help the university and the student body move forward in a positive way.

“I think it’s important that we recognize the intensity of the last year and do our very best to better the university for ourselves and for future students,” Ziebell said.

Jackie Buttafuoco and Joel Meier

Jackie Buttafuoco, a fourth-year biology student, is running for UW-Eau Claire student body president alongside vice presidential candidate Joel Meier, a third-year marketing analytics student.

Buttafuoco and Meier’s campaign slogan is “Fighting for Students.”

Buffafuoco and Meier were both on student senate last year, Buttafuoco as an off-campus senator and Meier as the Director of Communications during the spring semester.

Buttafuoco said she is running because she is passionate about the school and wants to make it a better place.

“I care about my community,” Buttafuoco said. “I see that there is a lot that needs to be done.”

Buttafuoco said she is confident that her past experience in Student Senate and her involvement on campus in various clubs and organizations has prepared her for this role.

“I understand the work that has to go into things,” Buttafuoco said. “My work ethic is always working.”

Buttafuoco also emphasized the importance of teamwork, and said she looks forward to working together with Student Senate and members of the student body to make UW-Eau Claire a better place.

Meier said his previous on-campus leadership experiences, including being a resident assistant, gave him a good insight into housing and residence life.

“Being able to be a part of that organization and see how it works from the inside really gave me a perspective on the different ways we review how the university impacts students,” Meier said. “(It has) taught me about the different resources on lower campus as well.”

Meier said his and Buttafuoco’s goal is to empower students and hold UW-Eau Claire’s administration accountable.

“The general mission of Jackie and I’s movement is a grass-roots organization to take the power away from the establishment and away from the bureaucracy that has been created on campus the past few years,” Meier said.

The candidates also aim to prioritize the concerns and the needs of the student body before their own, he said.

“We aren’t trying to center this movement around us,” Meier said. “We want to make the student body the emphasis, and we want to make sure their concerns are the ones being heard, not ours.”

Janssen can be reached at [email protected].