Candidate Profile

Daniel Faibishenko

(He/Him)

My name is Daniel Faibishenko, and I’m a junior studying Finance and Accountancy. I entered this race to improve the student experience on campus. Throughout my three years on campus, I have witnessed first-hand the strengths and weaknesses of our university, and as your student trustee, I hope to target this campus’ problems while building on our successes. The University of Illinois is a melting pot, where people from every walk of life help form the energetic campus that we know today. Although we are one unified campus, disparities in resources plague our university just the same. As a student in the Gies College of Business, I know first hand the importance of networking and first impressions when it comes to securing a job in this competitive job market. Each year, students spend thousands of dollars purchasing professional attire for job fairs and employer showcases, but many low income students on this campus lack the funds for these necessary purchases. This leads to reduced opportunities for advancement and placement in high paying jobs. As student trustee, I hope to work with the university to expand student access to affordable professional clothing. I plan to use university resources to create professional attire reserves that students can access using their I-Card, which will address on-demand needs. Mental Health problems are just as serious as physical ones, and we need to treat them with the same urgency. In extreme cases, students have to wait months to receive treatment with university provided therapists, and by then, it could be too late. I hope to try and increase the resources that we dedicate to this problem, so students can receive the help they rightfully deserve. As students, we should be able to walk around campus without the fear of being harmed. This year, it’s clear that our current security measures haven’t contained the spread of crime on campus, and it is time that we increase the amount of resources we dedicate to this problem. I want to work with the university and the necessary departments to help install more emergency buttons on campus, especially in high risk areas. We can’t rely on students to make critical decisions when they are placed in dangerous situations, and these buttons will help streamline the process for the students in need. Lastly, on a campus with 87 Greek organizations and over 6,300 undergraduate members, it’s surprising how underrepresented the Greek community is when it comes to making important decisions related to the university and study body. As a member of a fraternity, I hope to use my experiences to advocate and provide a voice for this group on campus.