Carleton Student Association (CSA), Carleton College’s student government, is currently undergoing spring term elections. Available positions for this election season include CSA President, Vice President, Public Relations Officer, Class Representatives and Committee and Office Liaisons.
The CSA election process includes a week of campaigning followed by three days of voting. During this time, candidates share platforms, release campaign materials and engage directly with students. The election polls open on Friday, April 17, at 8:00 a.m. and close on Sunday, April 19, at 11:59 p.m.
Student candidates are driven by their prior leadership experience as well as attention to existing campus issues to run for position at the CSA. Talia Raich ’27 is running for CSA President, and has several years of involvement in CSA’s Governance Committee. She is running on a combined ticket with Lena Stole ’27, candidate for Vice President, and George Perry ’27, candidate for Treasurer.
Since her first year at Carleton, Raich has held multiple leadership roles, including College Council Liaison and CSA Communications Officer. Raich points to her prior experiences of connecting with the broader student body as motivating factors behind her campaign.
“I feel incredibly passionately about advocating for students and also connecting with everyone and making our college experience more fair and amazing,” Raich said. According to Raich, her executive ticket has engaged in conversations with various campus stakeholders, such as different campus offices, students and student organizations as well as current CSA members, in order to learn more about the potential roles and responsibilities of various CSA positions.
Raich claims her campaign centers on practical, achievable reforms within CSA. “I am going to keep my CSA ideas realistic. Something that is actually achievable and in the jurisdiction of the role,” Raich said.
According to Raich, her and her running mates’ priorities include fixing the student clubs system and supporting leadership transitions. Stole similarly campaigns for strengthening communication with the student body and improving the structure of student clubs. Drawing on his experience with the Budget Committee, Perry pushes for a more affordable and flexible meal plan, protecting and potentially increasing student wages, and limiting increases to the student activity fee in his written platform.
Ben Krebsbach ’27 who is running as an individual candidate for CSA President, frames his campaign around independence from college administration and advocacy for students’ rights. “I believe students deserve a president who is willing to challenge the college administration on its decisions when necessary,” Krebsbach said.
Though Krebsbach is currently on an Off-Campus Studies program in Romania, he has previously served on the CSA Senate as the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) Liaison.
He points to his willingness to speak out on political and social issues, especially when it comes to protecting the student body from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“Ultimately, the position of CSA President is one that determines the priorities of the CSA Senate and helps shape how Carleton responds to the current political moment. It is someone the President, Dean of Students and Board of Trustees are required to meet with and hear,” Krebsbach wrote in his platform.
He proposes changes such as “pushing for divestment from military contractors, instituting participatory budgeting, making CSA Executive salaries optional, building a Title IX Office students can trust and continuing the fight to allow students to live off-board.” Krebsbach currently works as a dining services manager for BonAppetit and, if elected, would push to remain in his student work position by forgoing his executive salary.
Anton-August “Ashton” Macklin ’27 is also running as an individual candidate for CSA president. Having previously served as Inter-Campus Liaison during the 2024-2025 academic year, he decided to run for president because “there is a good amount of creativity that I’ve seen go far, but not far enough to be consequential — normally as a consequence of apathy… I think that even if the most significant thing I can do with the position is make the [CSA] Senate an organization that students feel aware about, part of, entitled to and entrusting of…that warrants at least a try.”
Macklin’s platform addresses 20 different issues that he describes as being “foci underlining the politics and policies that we hope to bring to CSA.” Issues included in Macklin’s platform include “developing an ICE policy that commits Admin to a reliable student and employee defense strategy” and “expanding the portfolio of the OHP Liaison to incorporate SHAC,” among others.
While Macklin is not running on a formal ticket, he included endorsements for Benedict Le ’28 as Vice President, Duncan McArthur ’27 and Juju Xiaaj ’27 for Class of 2027 co-representatives, Michelle Sokovikova ’29 for Class of 2029 representative, Adam Paul ’27 for Chaplain’s Office Liaison and Yahvi Argawal ’29 for Residential Life Liaison.
Le, candidate for Vice President, brings a different perspective shaped by work as a Class of 2028 co-representative and a CSA liaison for the Community, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (CEDI) committee. Le emphasizes reform, particularly around efficiency, equitable funding, and responsiveness to student needs.
“I’ve encountered a number of issues that I felt could be addressed by the CSA,” Le said, citing concerns about how well student demands are supported and how resources are distributed among organizations. Le also described how his decision to run stems from long-term reflection about gaps in the support system on campus. “These issues came to the forefront of my platform through interactions and conversations with students,” Le said.
In this year’s election cycle, there are a total of three candidates running for CSA President, two for Vice President and one candidate each for Treasurer and Communications Officer. Election ballots open on Friday morning and close on Sunday evening. All students, including current seniors, are eligible to vote for executive and office liaison positions, while class representatives are voted by students from respective class years.