UGBC needs a change, according to Andrew Cimino, MCAS ’26 and a candidate for UGBC president.
“Our slogan is for students, not status quo,” Cimino said.
Cimino and his running mate Brody Whetzel, LSEHD ’26, enter the race with no previous ties to UGBC, but they believe their status as UGBC outsiders might be exactly what students are looking for.
“I think diverse experience is a really, really good thing, and I think that is the fresh perspective that is needed,” Whetzel said.
Brianna Wesner, LSEHD ’26, who works with Cimino in Best Buddies, agreed.
“They have never been involved in UGBC before, and I think to bring a new light into UGBC and to shift things around, they need new people to get involved,” Wesner said.
While Cimino and Whetzel may lack UGBC experience, they believe their leadership roles and other involvements more than compensate for it.
“[Cimino] is involved in very diverse circles, and I’m involved in circles that he’s not involved in,” Whetzel said. “I think our combined experiences and the lens that we see BC through those experiences set us up well.”
Cimino, an economics major on the pre-medical track, is currently treasurer of Best Buddies, an Ever to Excel mentor, president of Music Production Club, and family coordinator in the Italian Club.
Whetzel, an applied psychology and transformative educational studies major, focuses much of his involvement on supporting freshmen during their first year at Boston College. He serves as a resident assistant, 48Hours retreat leader, and Freshmen League captain.
In addition to these roles, Whetzel is a peer mentor in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development’s Experience, Reflection, Action program and a student intern in the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs. He also was selected as a delegate for BC at the ACC Leadership Symposium.
“We love the school,” Cimino said. “ Going through all these experiences has given us such a great perspective of what the school is all about, and it’s changed us so much for the better.”
According to Whetzel, he and Cimino had long considered taking their talents and dedication to BC into student government, but the idea became more serious a few months ago.
“I think when it became more serious is when we spent time talking to people on the inside within UGBC and learning more about the current climate within UGBC, as far as people stepping away from the role,” Whetzel said. “That’s kind of when it became serious, reflecting on who we are as leaders, who we are as human beings, and what we feel we could bring.”
Cimino and Whetzel emphasized their respect for UGBC and the many students involved in the organization.
“They do a lot,” Cimino said. “They have incredible capabilities as an organization, and even this year, they’ve accomplished some great things.”
Still, he and Whetzel believe that a change—especially in the culture and climate of the organization—is necessary.
“You need to empower those people,” Cimino said. “They should feel empowered from the top and feel like a culture supports them in their endeavors, and makes them feel like they can have a real impact.”
To gain a better understanding of the organization they hope to lead, the two said they have met with current and former UGBC members, a former UGBC president, and administrators.
“We have spent hours reaching out to different people within UGBC, learning from them, and UGBC, from their experience, could use a fresh perspective, could use change,” Whetzel said.
According to Whetzel, three high-level UGBC leaders stepped down this year due to issues with current UGBC culture.
“That’s not one individual’s fault, per se, but we think—and through what we’ve been told—UGBC could do for a change,” Whetzel said.
Cimino and Whetzel believe that they, together with the team they have built, are capable of enacting this change.
“It hasn’t just been us,” Cimino said. “We’ve compiled a large team of people from within UGBC that has helped us mesh our fresh perspective to what is possible within the constraints of UGBC, and we’re confident in our platform and our ideas because of it.”
In addition, for the past two months, Cimino and Whetzel said they have regularly attended UGBC Senate meetings.
“Understanding we don’t have that current UGBC experience, we have been prioritizing learning as much as we can,” Whetzel said.
According to Cimino and Whetzel, their platform is divided into three sections—internal, short-term, and long-term—all centered around transparency and tangibility.
Cimino and Whetzel said the internal section would focus on immediate, tangible improvements to UGBC.
“That starts by priority number one, solidifying and publishing the constitution and restarting the constitutional task force that already exists and has been left by the wayside when its leaders resigned,” Cimino said.
Cimino emphasized that making the rules public is crucial for ensuring that external groups understand UGBC’s purpose, while also helping members clearly grasp the expectations and details of their roles.
Whetzel added that transparency would be at the forefront of their internal plan.
“Our job as student leaders is to do everything we can to serve students, and I think it’s unfair to the students that we’re serving when the waters are a little murky,” Whetzel said. “When there’s an unclear constitution, when there’s an over $400,000 budget and it’s not clear where all that funding is going,” Whetzel said.
The short-term section of the platform focuses on improvements to student life that Cimino and Whetzel hope to implement within one semester.
One of the pillars of their internal plan is “BC Bonds,” a proposed online program designed to match compatible students looking to make new friends—similar to Marriage Pact, but specifically for friendships.
Cimino explained that the program would fall under the Student Initiatives Division. To create the online platform, they plan to partner with the computer science department and offer a monetary reward to the student who develops the best program.
Another short-term focus would be revamping the student involvement process, which would include creating an easy-to-navigate alternative to the existing involvement website.
“If you look on the [Office of Student Involvement] website, it has a list of clubs,” Whetzel said. “For one, not even all of them are active. And two, there isn’t even a way of how I would get involved in those clubs. There isn’t any contact information.”
The long-term section of the platform would center on improvements to student-life that would be implemented within one year.
It includes proposals such as facilitating a UGBC-run dining match program, increasing the culture club budget cap, and adopting International Baccalaureate (IB) credits at BC.
On the IB credits proposal, Cimino said that he and Whetzel have met with Alessandra Veveiros, MCAS ’27, an international student and student senator working with the Office of Global Engagement.
“It’s extremely important for international students to feel welcome at BC and feel the same as if they’re coming from the US, and I think that would be a significant step into doing that,” Veveiros said.
Whetzel also highlighted that the network of administrative connections he and Cimino have, including Shawna Cooper Whitehead, vice president for student affairs, Chris Darcy, director of the Office of First Year Experience, and Brian Regan, associate director for residential education in the Office of Residential Life, would be instrumental in driving long-term change.
“Andrew and I collectively have a very diverse pool of administrative connections,” Whetzel said. “And we understand the reality that to get tangible and sustainable change we need administrative support.”
Beyond their campaign goals and experience in leadership, Cimino and Whetzel also aim to highlight their personal qualities.
“We aren’t just doing this for our internal sake,” Whetzel said. “We are doing this because we are people, one, who love this school, and two, love the people at this school and are passionate about serving the people at this school.”
Wesner agreed.
“Their commitment to improving BC, improving the campus, initiatives, advocating for others, and just generally, making a positive impact on BC, well, I absolutely believe that they’ll go above and beyond in order to do so,” Wesner said.
Cimino stressed that there’s “no mirage” here—he and Whetzel mean what they say.
“We’re not just saying we’re going to do this, and then it’s not going to happen,” Cimino said. “We’re going to do this. These are the exact steps we’re going to follow. And you should believe us.”
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