{"id":171351,"date":"2026-02-27T11:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/171351\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:43:14","slug":"tyler-williams-and-haran-mahesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/171351\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Williams and Haran Mahesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Presidential candidate Tyler Williams to the left, and his running mate, Haran Mahesh, to the right. ORACLE PHOTO\/RACHELL ROSS<\/p>\n

Instead of taking a business-casual approach to their presidential campaign, Tyler Williams and Haran Mahesh chose a different route \u2014 touring the Marshall Student Center in onesies to appear \u201cmore personable\u201d to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I walk around with a suit, people will be intimidated to come and talk to me,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI want to hear from students, so being approachable is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, a 21-year-old junior political science major, is originally from San Diego, California, and moved to Florida for high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams said the ticket\u2019s slogan, Bulls4Better, represents their belief that students deserve a higher quality of life and more transparent leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we spend our money and the lack of leadership that we have seen is terrible,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Mahesh, a 20-year-old sophomore political science major, said he moved to Florida from Kentucky four years ago to attend USF.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams and Mahesh are running for student body president and vice president, respectively.<\/p>\n

Mahesh said the ticket will advocate for improving the student experience by connecting with students and listening to their needs.<\/p>\n

He said the three main \u201cpillars\u201d of their campaign are to create sustainability on campus, fairness in fees and ensure student voices and needs are heard and represented.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, students deserve better,\u201d Mahesh said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to give them through our actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF SG senate president resigns amid \u2018toxic\u2019 climate, seeks freer advocacy<\/a><\/p>\n

Williams has served in SG since spring 2024 \u2014 beginning as a senator and later being elected as senate president<\/a> for the sixth consolidated term last spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing senate president really allowed me to understand the inner workings of Student Government,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHaving that insider perspective allows me to see where all the faults lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams resigned<\/a> on Feb. 9 due to a \u201ctoxic\u201d social environment within SG and a desire to advocate more freely.<\/p>\n

However, just under two weeks after his resignation, Williams was removed from the senate on Feb. 20 due to an \u201cunexcused [absence] during roll call\u201d for a meeting, according to an email obtained by The Oracle.<\/p>\n

Every senator starts with 15 points at the beginning of each semester, according to SG Rule of Procedure 7.1<\/a>. Williams was removed from the Senate for dropping to zero points after his absence.<\/p>\n

And while Williams has the option to appeal the decision until Feb. 27, he said he does not plan to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt no need to appeal because I believe that my focus right now should be on student needs,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThis removal just shows me that insiders don\u2019t want us in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Mahesh does not have experience with SG, he has served as a leader for various student organizations at USF \u2014 including GenCLEO<\/a>, a climate advocacy organization.<\/p>\n

The pair met through campus political events, eventually connecting through their work with College Democrats<\/a>, where Williams is president and Mahesh is part of the coalition policy team.<\/p>\n

Williams and Mahesh said SG is \u201cthe least efficient department on USF\u201d when it comes to budget allocation from Activity and Service fees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Activity and Service fees are included in student tuition rates and fund SG boards, programs, organizations and activities, according to USF Student Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Therefore, Williams said he plans to cut senators\u2019 pay because he believes they should serve and advocate for the student body rather than hold paid positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think [SG funds are] being spent for student needs,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI think they\u2019re being spent to enrich the pockets of senators.\u201d<\/p>\n

SG senators earn $15.00 per hour for seven hours per week, with 40 senators in office, according to SG<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Williams and Mahesh said their leadership styles complement each other \u2014 as Williams will \u201cfight for everyone\u201d and Mahesh has the strength to lead teams and focus on students.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, we create a really well-rounded perspective and a really well-rounded leadership for USF students,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Related: USF SG sees fewer voters but zero grievances after ending online voting<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams and Mahesh said their platform advocates for sustainability, including pushing USF to reinstate its Office of Sustainability<\/a> and make all three campuses more accessible to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in a sustainable and healthy campus,\u201d Mahesh said. \u201cWe need to support sustainable measures, as well as measures to increase accessibility, walkability and bikeability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams and Mahesh said students should care about this election because SG controls A&S fees, which affects everything from the Campus Recreation Center to funding for student organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery part of the student experience comes back to Student Government,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI would say to students, consider voting in a Student Government election because your student experience is directly affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams and Mahesh said their campaign is focused on serving the students rather than building their own resumes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, students deserve better, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to give them \u2014 a better USF for every student,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: The Oracle suggested all candidates wear professional or business-casual attire for interviews. Williams and Mahesh chose to wear onesies.<\/p>\n

This article is part of a \u201cMeet the Candidates\u201d series for all tickets running in the presidential election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other tickets running in the race are:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunter Rabinowitz (student body president) and Mia Riley (student body vice president)
\nDavid Zahn (student body president) and Titan Sanchez (student body vice president)
\nCaio Esmeraldi (student body president) and Maria Julia Mussa Martins (student body vice president)
\nMuhammad Kamil (student body president) and Linda Kahok (student body vice president)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Presidential candidate Tyler Williams to the left, and his running mate, Haran Mahesh, to the right. ORACLE PHOTO\/RACHELL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-171351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}