By MASUDUR RAHMAN

Campus Editor

Campaigning for the Oakland University Student Congress elections officially began on Monday, March 2 at around 4:30 p.m. The candidates for Student Body President and Student Body Vice President are starting to get their messages out to students.

The candidates have different things to offer and are going to campaign in different ways, but there are some similarities.

All of the candidates said that they will be trying to reach the students on a personal level, hoping to find out what the students want out of OUSC.

“We have opinions, but we’re just two people,” said Janelle Arbuckle, who’s running for president with Nick McCormick as vice president.

The candidates are planning on having several events for the students to get to know them and what they stand for.

The first such event is the Meet and Greet on Thursday, March 5, at 6 p.m. in the Oakland Center. Students are invited to come and meet the candidates hoping to represent them in 2009-10.

There is also a debate for the presidential candidates planned for noon Monday, March 9 in the OC Fireside lounge, and a debate for the vice-presidential candidates is scheduled for noon Tuesday, March 10, in the cafeteria in the OC.

Along with the events, the candidates said they will try to reach students in other ways, like approaching them in the OC or talking to people after class.

Each of the candidacy tickets also have a Facebook group for their campaign, and are encouraging students to reach them via Facebook, e-mail and other ways.

“We’re going to exhaust every PR possibility,” said Kristin Dayag, who’s running for president with Saman Waquad as vice president.

“We’re going to have building meetings in the dorms,” said Jackie Craite, who is running as vice president with Anthony Ivone as president.

“We have a big word of mouth campaign,” said Mark Medaugh, who’s running as president with Ashley Marthen as vice president.

The candidates haven’t picked times for the meetings, but said they will soon.

Check out The Oakland Post’s next issue on March 11 for further coverage.