Sadia Ahmed and Yanan Wang announced their candidacy for president and vice president of Syracuse University’s Student Association this week.

Ahmed, a junior political science major, currently serves as president of SU’s Residence Hall Association. Wang, a junior political science and international relations student, is president of the university’s Asian Students in America chapter. Both Wang and Ahmed are currently unaffiliated with SA.

As president and vice president, Ahmed and Wang would advocate for student voices and establish spaces for students to express their concerns to SA, according to their campaign website.

“Advocacy is about adjusting to the evolving needs of the student body,” Ahmed and Wang state on their website. “When it is done properly, there is always something somewhere to improve.”

Ahmed and Wang are the third pair of candidates to declare their candidacy for SA president and vice president. Justine Hastings and Ryan Golden launched their campaign Feb. 17. Morgan Eaton and David Williams announced their candidacy Feb. 27.

Improving representation, accountability, sustainability and accessibility at SU are the focuses of Wang and Ahmed’s campaign. The duo will incorporate initiatives from multicultural registered student organizations into university events and ensure SA represents the student body, they said Friday in a statement to The Daily Orange.

The pair also aims to hold the Department of Public Safety accountable for communication with the student body, according to the campaign website.

During Ahmed’s time as RHA president, the association criticized SU administration for not informing the campus community of racist graffiti found in Day Hall in November. As president of ASIA, Wang encouraged participation in the #NotAgainSU movement.

As women from marginalized communities, Wang and Ahmed said they would like to help students who may be dealing with similar struggles.

“The fight for a voice that is heard, the struggle to find a sense of self, and the ambivalence around a solid identity – these are issues we hope to alleviate within the student body,” they said in their statement.

Ahmed also serves on the Student Advisory Council, and Wang is a member of the Registered Student Organizations’ review board. Both are members of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity and were peer facilitators for the first-year SEM 100 course in fall 2018.