On March 25, UC Berkeley sophomore Dhruv Krishnaswamy announced his independent candidacy for ASUC Senate, and he is running with the aim of strengthening the campus community.

Krishnaswamy is majoring in economics and data science and is also minoring in theater. He has worked in the ASUC for the past two years, and in spring 2019, he was a member of the ASUC Elections Council. If elected, Krishnaswamy said he will bring the community together by providing technology solutions and improving sexual and mental health resources. He also wants to help international and transfer students become more involved with the campus community.

“My planning objective is to ensure that I can help the Berkeley community move forward together,” Krishnaswamy said. “This could be in the form of starting some sort of peer mentoring program, which would increase the access to counseling services of Berkeley or could be in the form of helping new freshmen finding a community in Berkeley easier.”

As a part of his campaign, Krishnaswamy’s technology solutions include introducing digital UC Berkeley IDs for library and Recreational Sports Facility entries on campus, increasing Course Captures, digitizing course materials and building a platform that aggregates all club information that every student can have easier access to.

Krishnaswamy also plans to implement free and accessible menstrual products in residential halls, include information in the CalLink app about clubs that accept transfer students and build a digital portal for access to alumni information from different cities across the world.

“Running as an independent candidate gives me a lot more control over my campaign and gives me a lot of flexibility in how I want to manage it,” Krishnaswamy said. “My whole idea is to ensure that we can build a stronger and more tight-knit community by providing people with different resources that Berkeley can provide.”

Krishnaswamy is also involved in the campus teaching community. He was a member of the Data 8 course staff and he is a teaching assistant for the “Essential Tools for Data Science” DeCal course.

Krishnaswamy added that these experiences opened his eyes to knowing different people, understanding the “harsh reality of life” and orienting his campaign.

“That’s what I really liked about him, personally; that’s why I’m working for him. He’s a nonpartisan, solutions-focused candidate,” said campus junior Mustafa Mirza, one of Krishnaswamy’s campaign managers. “I think what we need more from the ASUC is solutions to problems, rather than just discussions and talks. We need concrete solutions.”

Mirza noted Krishnaswamy’s problem-solving capabilities and believes Krishnaswamy’s experiences will help improve the campus. He added that Krishnaswamy is a candidate who will provide solutions that will benefit everyone.

“At the end of the day, he is someone who is honest and who is nonpolitical. He is not somebody who is going to resign in the future because he doesn’t like something that happens, which we see very often in the ASUC,” Mirza said.