Freshman international relations major Ben Eveslage and junior sociology major Elisa Malile were announced OUSC president and vice president on Friday afternoon at the Pioneer Food Court. They spoke with The Oakland Post about their reaction and plans for the upcoming year.

How do you feel about being the new student body president and vice president?

Elisa Malile: “I’m very excited. It’s almost like an overwhelming feeling. When I drove up to school, it just made me smile to know that I can impact the students and make changes in the school, and just be a positive image for the school.”

Ben Eveslage: “It’s a lot of excitement. We know there’s a big journey ahead of us, but I feel like we’ve already got ground work, that we set up through the campaign though my time with OUSC and Elisa’s time in the meetings, to get that feeling as to what to do to get our platform implemented. It’s very exciting.”

What are some of the first things you would like to implement from your platform?

Eveslage: “Something I am looking to do in the very beginning of the summer is to come out with a good marketing plan to whip OUSC into shape for the following year. That involves a lot of brainstorming, there is a lot of things that OUSC has never done before so it’s a lot of testing to make sure that OUSC can do these things.”

Malile: “I’ve already started working on a big part of our platform, the athletes and the Greeks. I’ve been in communication with the Greek Council president and all the presidents of the sororities, to sit down with them and see where they are going with recruitment. We’ll be meeting with SAC next week to discuss what the athletes are looking for, so were going to be discussing how we can execute our ideas. It’s really exciting, it’s only day two and I feel like we’ve already got the ball rolling on what we promised.”

What is your relationship with each other and why did you decide to run together?

Malile: “I consider Ben a really good friend. He’s really loyal and trustworthy, and we just clicked. I think he was just someone that I needed to get to know. We hung out a little bit, and then we just decided to run together. I think we’re the perfect match, we just get each other really well.”

Of all of the other candidates, you two had one of the most significant campaigns. What pushed you to create such a large campaign?

Eveslage: “We started thinking of what people feel when they see something, and that’s when we thought of ‘Express Yourself.’ It translated very well into ‘Let your voice be heard,’ OUSC’s old tagline. We just thought that this is what people want … and we thought if we could hit that well enough, we would be able to attract a majority of the population here.”

How did you feel about dancing to Lady Gaga in front of an audience at the meet and greet event?

Malile: “I loved it. I love dancing. When we were there, I was just like this is who I am and I love to dance. That is who we are, and I really wanted to give that off to people. We didn’t want to give the students something that was an act. This is who we are.”

Eveslage: “I was very excited for the dance-off. When they played that song, it was funny because I love that song. It was really fun. It was almost like you could just be yourself for a moment and that is what the students want to see. Being a politician of any sort you put up a front that doesn’t allow people to see who you really are, and I think people were able to see through that barrier and see who we really are.”

How do you plan to decorate your office?

Malile: “I really want to make it comfortable. I can’t have something plain, I really want to be inspired. I am definitely going to have photos of my family, friends and some drawings that really inspire me. I also want to have a little Buddha on my desk … I think that when I am going to be stressed out or angry, it will be a good reminder of peace of mind.”

Eveslage: “I’m the total opposite. I like to have everything plain, and have a huge desk so I can cover it in papers. I couldn’t handle those extra things on my desk.”

As a freshman at OU, were you nervous about running against candidates that have had more experience at OU?

Eveslage: “I don’t think I was ever nervous about that. I’ve never underestimated myself. I knew that if I was confident in myself and I had the experiences that I’ve had before, I’d do fine. I think when other people may have used that as a case against me, I always had a good response. I’ve had experience in the working field and I’ve always proven myself. This is for the benefits of the students, so I am constantly making sure that I am doing the best that I can.”

With all of the new OU commercials that have been released lately, do you have any ideas to help promote OU?

Eveslage: “We were actually thinking about doing a music video for ‘Born This Way,’ by Lady Gaga. We were going to have students choreograph it, do the dance and have aspects in there where it shows OU students expressing themselves.”

If you could have your choice of any celebrity or singer to bring to campus for a show, who would you choose?

Malile: “Britney Spears. I’ve loved her since I was eight years old. I love her music.”

Eveslage: “Lady Gaga. I love Lady Gaga, I can’t get much more in-depth than that.”