Presidential candidate Hunter Rabinowitz to the left and his running mate, Mia Riley, to the right. ORACLE PHOTO/AUDREY KOCZANSKI
Hunter Rabinowitz and Mia Riley have worked together as assistants in the Dean’s Office of USF’s College of Behavioral and Community Sciences since fall 2024 — and now they’re running a Student Government presidential campaign together.
“We work very well together professionally, so we thought it really made sense to do this together as well,” Rabinowitz said.
Rabinowitz is running for student body president with Riley as his vice president.
Rabinowitz, a 19-year-old sophomore marketing major, is an SG senator who serves as the ethics committee chair and as vice chair of the activity and service fee recommendation committee.
Riley, a 20-year-old junior biology major, has never held a position in SG. Still, she said leadership roles have always been part of her life from elementary through high school.
She also has two positions — accountability and support — in her sorority, Kappa Delta at USF, where she ensures sisters remain accountable for their actions.
“We’re there to support each other as people,” Riley said. “I truly feel that being the higher person causes a lot of trust within everyone else who’s coming to me, and I have to sit there and listen with an unbiased mind.”
Rabinowitz said the ticket works because it combines both an inside and outside perspective to represent the student body as one.
“I think that balance is so important, as well as since I’m an in-state student and Mia is an out-of-state student, we represent more students,” Rabinowitz said.
Rabinowitz and Riley said they plan to implement and stand by three pillars — collaboration, safety and streamlining SG processes for student organizations.
Related: USF SG shares tips for submitting A&S budget requests as deadline nears
Riley said overcoming homesickness as an out-of-state student from New York is one of the reasons she decided to run.
“I just really think that I can make a difference and help those people who maybe feel the same and didn’t know if they would fit in at USF, or make it so far from home,” Riley said.
As for Rabinowitz, running for student body president offers him a chance to give back what USF has given him through education and resources.
“I’ve always kind of been drawn to trying to be in positions where I can help others and create things, promote student engagement, and promote positive campus experience,” Rabinowitz said.
Rabinowitz and Riley said they both live on campus, in the Greek Village and Kappa Delta sorority house, respectively.
Rabinowitz said that as student residents, they have a better understanding of student struggles and complaints.
“We are just normal students,” Rabinowitz said. “We feel the struggles, we live and breathe them every single day.”
Rabinowitz said the first pillar of their campaign focuses on increasing collaboration between SG cabinets and student organizations across all three campuses.
“The average student doesn’t know much about Student Government, so we should really try to get ourselves out there more and promote the resources that we provide that students don’t use that much,” he said.
Their second pillar is campus safety, which Riley said would be promoted through an optional once-a-semester self-defense class for students offered in partnership with University Police.
“Coming as an out-of-state student or coming as an international student, you might not know the area as well,” Riley said. “Personally, I would love to do a self-defense class.”
The third pillar of their campaign is to create a program called “Start Strong at USF,” which would provide new student organizations with an online “packet” outlining funding applications, room reservations, tabling procedures and eligibility requirements.
“We really want to work to streamline those processes, and we want to look at it from an outside student perspective as a student starting a student organization,” Rabinowitz said. “If student orgs succeed, students succeed.”
Related: OPINION: USF room policies shouldn’t sideline student organizations
Rabinowitz said his experience overseeing more than 35 senators while serving as vice chair of the A&S fee recommendation committee has prepared him for the SG presidency.
“That’s something that’s crucial for whoever is going to be the student body president to know those things,” Rabinowitz said. “So I feel like I’m really prepared for it.”
Students pay A&S fees as part of their tuition — for Tampa students, these fees are collected through a $7 flat fee and an additional $12.08 per credit hour, according to SG.
This fee supports SG boards, programs, 12 success departments and over 250 student organizations to improve services related to student activities.
A central focus of their campaign is the A&S budget allocation, as Rabinowitz said he began questioning why student organization budgets were being cut.
Student organizations saw a roughly 50% budget decrease for the 2025-26 fiscal year due to a $2.6 million shortfall.
Departments also experienced reductions during that period, which resulted in hour changes to USF’s MSC and Tampa Library last year.
“What I found is, right now, a lot of the money in the activity and service fee is going to things that are not activity and service,” Rabinowitz said. Things that are payroll, things that don’t benefit the majority of students in any way.”
Rabinowitz said A&S funds used to pay senators and other SG roles could be redirected.
“Why are we spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of student fees that should be going to students, on senators’ paychecks?” Rabinowitz said. “Those should be cut, and it should go back to the students for things that will benefit them.”
There are 40 seats in the senate, and each senator receives $15.00 per hour for seven hours per week, according to SG.
Related: USF SG senate president resigns amid ‘toxic’ climate, seeks freer advocacy
Rabinowitz said the ticket is prepared to build relationships with the student body and lead with transparency and accountability.
“I don’t want to give broken promises,” Rabinowitz said. “I want to build trust with the student body.”
This article is part of a “Meet the Candidates” series for all tickets running in the presidential election. The Oracle will publish two articles a day as part of this series. Check the website for more tickets tomorrow.
The other tickets running in the race are:
David Douglas Zahn (student body president) and Titan Sanchez (student body vice president)
Caio Esmeraldi (student body president) and Maria Julia Mussa Martins (student body vice president)
Tyler Williams (student body president) and Haran Mahesh (student body vice president)
Muhammad Kamil (student body president) and Linda Kahok (student body vice president)