By Brandon Ladd

The only candidate running for the upcoming SUNY Oswego Student Association President’s election is sophomore Thomas Ehrhard. 

Ehrhard is a politics, philosophy and economics major, who is on a political economics course in that major. He also minors in sustainability studies and German. Ehrhard joined the Student Association Senate this past summer after receiving emails about it and was the vice-chairman of the rules and judiciary committee for the fall semester. He is currently the chairman of the involvement committee. Ehrhard is a part of a variety of other clubs currently and serves as the vice president of the History Club. His involvement has grown quickly on campus. 

“A couple months later I got an invite to join the invite link for the Zoom meeting,” Ehrhard said. “And I fell in love with it. I love this kind of bureaucracy, government work, helping students and passing bills is my bread and butter.” 

The biggest thing Ehrhard said he has learned these past six months as a senator is the need for cooperation between organizations and Student Association. He believes the key to the success of SA is the ability to listen to students first. Ehrhard was pleased to expect that the financial woes Student Association have encountered are coming to an end, an issue that caused organizations to lose substantial amounts of money from budgets in recent years. 

“I am pleased to announce the worst is over,” Ehrhard said. “Because the old Student Association ran it into the ground and then COVID happened, so we didn’t get the student activity fee from many students. But now that we are back in person and SUNY Oswego is up in numbers, more money will be available to clubs to the best of my knowledge.” 

He believes that this return to more normalcy will provide a social environment for clubs to flourish in again. The hope is for more events to be happening for individual clubs and the opening of more outdoor spaces for gatherings. Fundraising opportunities also are a part of Ehrhard’s plan for next year. All together the scene will be more vibrate in his mind, taking another step out of COVID-19. 

“I want the campus to look like when I first toured,” Ehrhard said. “I’m a sophomore now but when I toured the school first in 2019 there were clubs everywhere. I do want to make it easier for these clubs to get out there and actually be able to draw in these students.” 

He was a bit disappointed that he would not be able to debate others on March 7 for the Student Association annual debate. Still, Ehrhard will take the stage Monday night to answer questions for 30 minutes. The debate will be aired on WTOP-10 and WNYO 88.9 FM. 

Photo via Thomas Ehrhard