Don't Gamble with the Future: Kukuruda and Udeshi

By Broadside Asst. News Editor Rebecca Fulton
Photo by Broadside Photography Editor Courtney Erland

Nicole Kukuruda and Ravi Udeshi have the largest platform of any of the candidates this year. They cover everything from technology to parking, from Mason money to local Green Star businesses. Though their platform is very large, they believe that they can accomplish or begin to accomplish everything on their platform.

“If you’re failing to plan, you’re planning to fail,” Udeshi said. “This is what we promise to do, this is what we’re able to do, this is what we’re going to do.”

One of the major things on their platform is their idea for confronting Mason’s parking condition. They believe that if they have more time in between classes during peak hours of the day, this will alleviate traffic jams and filled parking lots. They believe that by giving student more than ten minutes in between classes, this will give sufficient time for an adequate amount of parking spaces to become open for those coming in for the next class.

“The [administration is] trying to come up with solutions that aren’t necessarily parking solutions,” Kukuruda said.

Another major thing on the duos’ platform is to get rid of the forced meal plan. As of now, any resident that does not have a kitchen in their living area must have a university-provided meal plan. Kukuruda and Udeshi think that this is “overbearing and cumbersome” of the university. They believe that students are responsible enough to decide for themselves if they need a meal plan.

“There’s no reason for the school to force you to get a meal plan if you can make your own choices,” Udeshi said. “If you’re responsible enough to do that, the school shouldn’t have to force a meal plan upon you. I know as a commuter student, I don’t have a meal plan because I eat about half the time here and half the time elsewhere and I manage to do OK for myself; if you don’t have a kitchen but you think you can do that, there’s no reason you should be forced to get a meal plan.”

One of the other things that Kukuruda and Udeshi plan to do if inducted into office is change the university’s e-mail system. Udeshi has found providers of e-mail such as Google and Microsoft that will host university e-mail for free, and after doing the math, he has estimated that the university will save at least $400,000 a year.

“When you don’t like to use something, you just tolerate it; that means there’s something wrong with it,” Udeshi said.

Read more about these two at: nicoleandravi.com.