On Monday, March 24 voting started for next year’s Oakland University Student Congress President. When voting ends tonight, one of the three candidates will be chosen to take the place of current president Brandon Hanna.

The senior biology major said he has been involved with the OUSC for four years and doesn’t regret a thing.

“It’s made my time at OU a million times better,” Hanna said in a phone interview. “I never thought I would be this involved but I’ve grown so much from it as a person and as part of the OUSC.”

While being president, Hanna said he has had a great many accomplishments, such as the free scantron program, the push for better WiFi on campus and the push for more parking on campus, among other things.

“Also pushing for the expansion of the Oakland Center – that was huge,” Hanna said. “We got over 4,000 responses in our survey. That survey was the most filled-out survey on Oakland’s campus ever.”

Hanna said the OUSC will be making the OC expansion case at the next Board of Trustees meeting on May 7.

“We don’t want to make any decisions without students hearing and having a say,” Hanna said.

Some of the largest events Hanna enjoyed were the Rock For Rights event and the Tibetan Monks event.

“We’ve done a ton of really great things this year,” Hanna said. “We also did two BYOB tailgates – we’re currently working on pushing for another one in mid-April.”

One of the most challenging things Hanna has had to face is the amount of work it takes to balance being both a leader and a student.

“I guess I would say that it’s been trying to do as much as I possibly can on behalf of the student body,” Hanna said. “I’ve loved every second of it.”

When it comes to the next OUSC president, Hanna said he hopes to see someone who is open-minded, dedicated to serving the student body and who is very passionate for the position and for Oakland.

Hanna said he thinks all three tickets that are running have the qualities that will make a good president and that he encourages students to go check them out and vote at www.oakland.edu/voteou.

“Really make an informed decision because voting is extremely important in letting your voice be heard,” Hanna said. “Every vote does count. Every vote does matter.”