Choudhary/Dua organize to foster diversity and wellness

The student government election season is finally upon us. This is a time for debates, campaigning, and stimulating questions and conversations. One group taking this season very seriously is Student Body President (SBP) candidate Neal Choudhary and his Student Body Vice President (SBVP) running mate, Pulkita Dua.

Choudhary, the current Student Body Vice President for Finance (SBVPF), is a junior business administration and statistics major. As the current SBVPF, he already serves on the executive committee for the current president and has worked with Senate to increase fiscal transparency and hold student government accountable for its spending.

He is also involved with “Alpha Phi Omega, SDC Buggy, CMU Telefund, and the 15-110 TA Staff.”

Dua, a junior electrical and computer engineering major, has also had several different leadership experiences throughout her time here at Carnegie Mellon.
She has been “a Public Relations Officer for Bhangra in the Burgh, a CIT Senator, and served on the First-Year Advisory Board for CIT Students.” She was previously an orientation leader, has been involved in Proud to be Plaid, and is currently a member of both Dancers’ Symposium and Delta Gamma.

Choudhary and Dua believe that their past experiences are what will enable them to bring tangible changes to the table.

Their platform states that their time at Carnegie Mellon has have provided them “with a fundamental understanding of the issues that students experience across campus.” The biggest of these issues being the creation of a healthy and thriving campus comminity.

One thing that Choudhary and Dua are heavy advocates for is fiscal transformation. This stems from Choudhary’s background as SBVPF.

The duo hopes that working with administration to transform financial processes “will save organizations lots of time with the financial workflow and allow them to focus more on their initiatives.” The duo also advocates for fiscal transparency.
Both hope to foster more collaboration in the Carnegie Mellon community. They plan to do this by holding “mixers between students of all majors” and combining “redundant department events into one larger event.”

Though the pair hopes to increase collaboration and unity among students, diversity is something very important to them. They hope to work “toward ensuring [the] Carnegie Mellon Community is one that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds regardless of race, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, etc.”

One audience that they especially hope to benefit is first-generation students. This is an issue that is very close to home for Choudhary.
They plan to “create a first-generation faculty-student mentor network” that provides “students from underserved communities with the resources needed to help them succeed.”

With diversity and collaboration as the driving forces of their platform, the pair hopes to increase the sense of community at Carnegie Mellon.

With diversity and collaboration as the driving forces of their platform, the pair hopes to increase the sense of community at Carnegie Mellon. Additional information about their campaign can be found at nealpulkita.com.