Five candidates for vice president of Illinois Student Government offered ideas on how to improve relations with students at Thursday's ISG meeting.

Shelley Cosner, Felipe Hilliard, My'Ron McGee, Neel Mookerjee and Sherwin Yen are running for the position, which was open this semester after vice president-elect Marcia Fuentes filled a presidential vacancy.

Vilas Dhar, who is leading a campaign to disband ISG, asked ISG members to appoint him to the position. However, Fuentes said he applied after the Monday deadline.

An ISG vice president is responsible for communicating with the student body and other student government bodies — something assembly members said needed to be improved. Fuentes said she will decide which of the five to appoint to the position by next week.

Sarah Pittenger was also sworn in as the new Academic Affairs committee chair Thursday — a position that also makes her an ISG assembly member.

— Jeremy Pelzer