UW-Madison student and Dane County Board candidate Leland Pan announced his platform Monday designed to strengthen the student voice in local government.
His goals include improving communication between the county and campus by updating the county’s website to make it more accessible to students. He also plans to help students participate in local government by organizing campaigns and protests.
Pan, who announced his candidacy for the Dane County Board of Supervisors in November, is running against UW-Madison student John Magnino.
He said he approaches his candidacy from the viewpoint of a student organizer and not a politician.
“I’ve really been presenting myself as a candidate who wants to get proactive, progressive change done,” Pan said. “I think students have been a force of progressive change in local politics, so that’s the change I wanted to channel.”
Magnino, who announced his initiative Sunday, said he also plans to engage students at the local level by creating campus committees to increase communication between students, the city and the county.
“I feel I would be a more approachable county supervisor as a whole, one who would be willing to work with all types of students and student organizations,” Magnino said.
While the Dane County Board elections take place April 3 during spring break, Pan said he plans to work with Magnino to inform students how to vote.
“It’s obviously not the ideal situation for an election...but we’re doing our best to get as much turnout as we can,” Magnino said.
