NYU’s Student Government Assembly kicked off the run for its next chair as members voted to approve this year’s two candidates — senators-at-large Adrian Pica-Borjas and Christian Howze — at the group’s Thursday meeting.

Pica-Borjas and Howze were approved after giving short speeches and partaking in a brief question-and-answer session. The SGA’s guidelines for the chair election stipulate that candidates can campaign starting March 23, and that voting will last from March 29 to April 3. All NYU students can vote on NYU Engage.

The SGA Chair, elected for a one-year term, presides over student government meetings and is responsible for executing the assembly’s resolutions, which use its $500,000 annual budget. Last year was the first election in which all students could vote — incumbent Ashlie Oxford’s opponent was disqualified the day before voting ended for making “personal remarks” against Oxford.

Pica-Borjas, a sophomore studying international relations at the College of Arts & Science, spoke first about the university’s cancellation of affinity graduations and NYU Langone Health’s move to end gender-affirming care for minors, which New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered to be reversed on Wednesday. Pica-Borjas said the two decisions “demonstrated that we are living in authoritarian times,” and that as chair, he would support on-campus unions and increase the number of weekly meal swipes students could redeem with Swipe it Forward from one to seven.

“It is imperative that the student government remembers that our role on campus is to demand the change that many students desire,” Pica-Borjas said. “Instead of following the federal agenda, I’m much more keen on following an agenda that tends to the experience of students.”

Stern junior Howze, who is the president of NYU’s Black Student Union and studies business and broadcast journalism, pointed to his experience in the SGA advocating for minority groups and promised to hold administrators accountable. In November, Howze wrote a letter of support on behalf of the assembly that urged NYU to strengthen its support systems for Black students after BSU criticized the university’s response to a racially targeted shooting threat.

Student government members asked Pica-Borjas how he would act when making a decision that would hurt the SGA’s relationship with NYU leadership, and Howze how he would respond to a situation in which two identity groups’ interests conflicted. Pica-Borjas cautioned that the SGA should try to work with administrators instead of demonizing them, and Howze said he would look at issues from an intersectional perspective to make sure both groups felt represented.

“I’m someone who operates under several different constituencies — I’m a person of color, but I’m also queer,” Howze said. “Operating from a perspective of ‘them versus us’ is really not productive.”

The election winner will be announced at an April 9 meeting.

Contact Zachary Karp at [email protected].