University student Hunter Sluss is running for a seat on City Council. While students have run for political office in Bowling Green over the last several years, it has been six years since a college student has been elected.
From Sandusky, Ohio, Sluss is a fourth year student studying politics with a minor in entrepreneurship. An experienced leader within multiple organizations, he currently serves as the president of the Catholic Falcon Community on campus. In addition to this leadership, Sluss is currently applying to the Hatch with multiple business product concepts and creations. According to Sluss, he hopes to serve the Bowling Green community by being a voice for students and by keeping Christ at the center of legislation.
Q. Why run for City Council?
A. The main reason is to be the student voice in City Council. Right now, we don’t have any student representation. We need someone that is in the classroom and knows what students are going through on a daily basis.
Q. Is it difficult to balance school life and running in this election?
A. Yes, you’re trying to balance a professional campaign, balancing finances, meetings, debates, emails. On top of that, I’m a full-time student taking 15 credit hours, trying to get school work done, having a life-work balance and also trying to stay sane. But I like it. I think I’ve found a good balance where I’m productive on both sides.
Q. What positions have you held?
A. I’ve never held a political office. I have been heavily involved with the Catholic Church, and right now I serve as the Catholic Falcon Community President on campus. I also founded an organization called ‘AXION’ on the University’s Firelands campus. The leadership positions I’ve held has taught me how to run a campaign and talk to people.
Q. Is holding office something you’d like to do in the future?
A. I would like to go into business and politics. Everybody is successful in his or her own field. I come from Sandusky. I’d love to move back to there and then run for City Council. We have commissioners instead of councilmen. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll run for more terms here in Bowling Green before I move on to another city.
Q. What issues are most important to you?
A. There’s no one specific issue or one pressing point. What I would say is there’s not one issue that I’m looking forward to, but one I want to get away from is immigration. I don’t think that belongs in City Council. We need to focus on tax revenues, bringing businesses into Bowling Green and trying to retain students that come here. From a political standpoint, City Council is focusing a lot on D.C. right now and not focusing on the city. They’re looking at immigration policies and making BG a safe city. That’s not what we’re supposed to be looking at. We’re supposed to be focusing on the roads and local government, not D.C.
Q. What are you goals for City Council if you win?
A. Bring a bridge between the University and permanent residents of Bowling Green so that way we’re not two separate entities. I know there’s probably a little age gap between families and college students, but I’d really like to bring people together and to bring entrepreneurship and business into Bowling Green.
Q. What’s your overall message for your campaign?
A. That I am a voice for the people and I love to have open communication. I am only one man, City Council is seven people — we have a city of 30,000 people. Not letting the city have a voice on council is not something I like, so I want to have open communication be readily available. If residents want to meet with me, send me an e-mail, postal mail, anything to tell me what they like about the city or want improved. I want to be their voice. I want people to know that even though they aren’t physically on City Council, they do have a large part in it.
