The fourth candidate to enter the Student Association presidential race, Iggy Nava declared his intention to run Thursday afternoon during a meet-and-greet event on the Syracuse University Quad.

Nava, a sophomore international relations major and assembly representative for the College of Arts Sciences, announced his candidacy at 12:25 p.m. in the middle of the Quad in front of a small group of friends and interested passers-by.

Wearing an orange suit jacket and a blue and orange plaid SU hat, Nava said the way he chose to announce his candidacy is reflective of the idea behind his campaign.

“I don’t want to stand behind a podium. If I catch five people’s attention then that’s great,” he said as a black banner that read “Iggy The University We Want” rippled in the wind at his feet.

Nava said he planned to stay on the Quad after his announcement to talk to students about his campaign, something he said he will continue to do in the coming weeks, even as the weather gets colder. This desire to interact with students is one of the reasons Nava wanted to run for SA president.

“I consider myself pretty compassionate,” he said. “And just the idea of helping others, not necessarily with getting rewards back, is what attracts me to the idea of advocating on behalf of the students.” 

His campaign slogan, “The University We Want,” reflects his platform of having SA focus on larger-scale initiatives to achieve change on SU’s campus, he said.

Specifically, Nava said, he wants to work directly with registered student organizations on campus to coordinate initiatives, properly address segregation between different groups at SU and to help give all majors the experience of Scholarship in Action. 

“The administration of the university takes big steps,” he said. “The students haven’t really followed.”

SA cannot solve every issue on campus, and should cater to the strengths of each organization, he said, though this would not be forced on them.

The focus should be on more lasting change at the university by making better use of SU’s resources, he said. Many other college student governments across the United States work to bring students into the discussion when large issues such as tuition rises are being discussed, he said.

On campus, he said, there’s a noticeable trend of segregation — not just between people of different races and ethnicities. This occurs between groups such as athletes and non-athletes and students who are involved in greek life and those who aren’t, he said.

Lastly, in terms of Scholarship in Action, Nava said while some schools such as the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications provide its students with many opportunities off-campus, other programs such as engineering do not.

Though he has only been in SA for eight months, Nava said his experiences outside of the organization — especially those related to his platform — make him more qualified than his opponents in the race.

“I look at the candidates now, and as much respect I have for them, I feel like I could do a better job at not only the things I described, but at others and leading the organization,” he said.

During the summer, he said he worked at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. He’s originally from Bolivia, but graduated high school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The decision to run for the presidency as a sophomore is also partly because he’s deciding on whether or not to graduate early, and that he’d have the potential to serve for two years, he said. But he’s not entirely set on either idea, he said

If elected, the emphasis will be on students, not about reputation, he said.

“You’re not making a name for SA. You’re not making a name for yourself, Nava said. “I think you’re trying to improve the life of the student body.”

– Asst. News Editor Jessica Iannetta contributed reporting to this article.

Published on October 18, 2012 at 12:59 pm

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum