The student body deserves student leaders who care about the issues that affect them. But caring is not sufficient — performance is what counts. The upcoming Yale College Council election for president and vice president is a crowded field. Ideas are not scarce, but success is. We are the candidates to both have the ambition to make change and the experience needed to enact it. 

We care. We know how to solve issues. And most importantly, we have the necessary policy background. This past year, both of us served as Senators for our respective colleges, Jonathan Edwards and Berkeley. Our policy record is both comprehensive and wide. We are confident to say it is the most successful.

Kyle wrote the proposal that got Old Campus water fountains. Ezana advocated to break the contract with Yale’s laundry subcontract. Kyle led the successful Yale Corporation Referendum, which included funding to the EJC, or Endowment Justice Coalition, to help campaign and securing over one third of the campus to vote yes on the questions proposed. Ezana advocated for FGLI students to have adequate dining options during school breaks. Together, we passed proposals funding YSEC, or Yale Student Environmental Coalition, to write reports on sustainability, create solar powered charging stations and a first-year sustainable living guide. We even got $25,000 in Uber gift cards and Metro North Rail tickets for students to help with the cost of going back home after moving out. We fund students, not the other way around. 

This isn’t even all we have done. We have worked together on these projects throughout the year, and we are hopeful to spend another year working together on the issues that we know students actually care about. We are committed to securing a commitment to establish a MENA, Middle Eastern and North African, cultural house, expanding dining hall hours in Ezra Stiles and Morse to ensure athletes have proper time to eat, and much more. 

Transparency and accessibility are key pillars of our platform. Students should never have to hear about policy proposals or other legislation second-hand. That’s why we will be writing frequent opinion columns, holding open town halls where we will take questions and constantly putting checks on ourselves to ensure we are doing our job — serving you, the students. You can read more about all of our ideas on our website here. 

We know what successful advocacy looks like, and we hope our past work is proof of this. We hope you can trust us to focus on issues we can solve. We aren’t here to make empty promises. Instead, we are promising persistence. The YCC election is April 12-14. We sincerely hope you vote for us, Ezana Tedla and Kyle Hovannesian, to be the next YCC President and Vice President. 

EZANA TEDLA is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards.
KYLE HOVANNESIAN is a sophomore in Berkeley.
They are running together for president and vice president of the YCC.