The Student Government presidential candidates — Ryan Soscia (right) and Moneer Khiereddine (left) — offer different approaches to similar issues. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

Throughout the election season, Student Government (SG) presidential hopeful Ryan Soscia has spoken out for increasing support for survivors of sexual assault and generally pushing for more diversity in student representation. 

But when it comes to his first day in office, Soscia has a clear focus in mind.

“We need to start getting the administration involved in helping our sexual assault survivors and we need to expand our resources in mental health,” Soscia said at the all-ticket debate on Wednesday. “That’s a fact, but our first day in office I need to have a conversation with our administration, have a conversation with Judy Genshaft, about the relationship we’re going to have.

“We need an administration that’s willing to put money outside of (Activities and Service) fees toward these programs … We need to make sure we’re protecting our students.”

While pushing administration for answers is a major part of his campaign, Soscia is mostly trying to get students to open up the discussion.

“Regardless of if we win or lose, students are talking about issues they were hesitant to bring up to Student Government before,” Soscia said. “As long as that continues, I will label my run for office as successful.”

In addition to advocating for sexual assault survivors, Soscia plans to fight for a monthly tuition plan, create student advocacy councils and provide free weekend transportation to downtown, Ybor City and SoHo.

Soscia plans to continue the initiative current president Chris Griffin started of a campus wide syllabus bank to allow students to view the past syllabus for a class before registering for it.

Along with a syllabus bank, Soscia also plans on creating a room reservation database that would allow students to book private study spaces across campus and see where open rooms are, with the idea of cutting down on time spent looking for a place to study.

He’s also discussed establishing a career fair for international students, making an A+ valued at a 4.33 GPA, creating SG scholarships, and hosting watch parties for away football games. 

When it comes to his work outside of SG, Soscia pushes for philanthropy at USF through the organization Bulls Forever, which he co-founded.

“The whole point of the organization is to establish the spirit of philanthropy on campus and teach students the importance of giving,” he said. “We help raise money for various student-led initiatives that may be overlooked by the administration or SG, so it’s completely third-party. 

“I’m really passionate about that because I think at a school like this, everyone needs to understand how important being a philanthropist is.”

Soscia met his running mate, Logan Holland, on his first day as Chief Financial Officer for SG last fall, and the two were fast friends. When it came to start thinking about running for president and vice president, he said it was a no-brainer for the two to run together.

“He’s a big football fan and so am I, so we talk football all the time,” Soscia said. “We had a lot of the same critiques we saw among the Executive Branch and SG, we had pretty much the same opinion on it all. It was quite natural when we decided to run together because we had the same vision and we were really good friends. Our bond is going to push us through this whole next year.”