As part of our “Interview the Candidates” series, Fourth Estate will be interviewing all four candidates for Student Government President and Vice President. 

Khushboo Bhatia and Ali Zaidi are running for Student Body President and Vice President for the 2015-16 school year on a platform of “student-centered university policies.”

“We both had such an amazing experience being able to work on so many different projects and actually be able to make some progress [in Student Government],” said Bhatia who is currently the executive chief of staff for Student Government.

Their slogan is “#Progress for Students” and “#ProgressforMason,” which they say took a long time to develop because they wanted it to be memorable.

“It took a lot of brainstorming, it took a lot of time to think about it,” said Zaidi, current chairman of academic affairs in Student Government. “It doesn’t come easy trying to think of a slogan; you want something that encompasses the essence of your whole platform.”

Bhatia is also a sister of Zeta Tau Alpha, member of the Mason Ke Rang dance team, a former Patriot Leader, and a Mason ambassador. Zaidi is an Off Campus Advisor, a founding member of the South Asian Student Association and a member of the Mason Academic Integrity Advisory board.

“Being in these different identities, we hope to bring those and continue to bring those identities to the table to work with administration,” Bhatia said.

Avery Powell contributed to this story.

Photo credit: VoteBhatiaZaidi Facebook page