Last Saturday, Stanford students elected Michael Cruz ’12 and Stewart Macgregor-Dennis ’13 as the 2011-12 ASSU Executive. The history and computer science majors, respectively, beat out the Tenzin-Vasquez and Hertz-Coggeshall Family for Excellence slates.

The Daily sat down with Cruz and Macgregor-Dennis to discuss their administration’s plans and interests.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): Can you summarize in one sentence, what you stand for and what you hope to accomplish next year?

Michael Cruz (MC): I think what we stand for is…finding ways to empower students to feel like they’re really part of the Stanford community, and using the resources of the ASSU Executive to give them those opportunities.

Stewart Macgregor-Dennis (SMD): Stanford 2.0 is about leveraging social entrepreneurship, so public service and measurement along with technology and experience, and trying to change Stanford through all four of those.

TSD: How is the transition from Angelina Cardona’s administration going to work?

SMD: Right now I think our transition involves learning from the ASSU members, but also very much from other knowledge leaders around campus. So we’re reaching out to people in the Management Science and Engineering department, the Project Management Institute at Stanford and different organizations around campus to really learn as much as possible in this stage.

TSD: One complaint you hear about the ASSU is that people say, “I don’t know what the ASSU does. I know they’re our government, but I’m not sure what it does.” Is there anything in your platform that could help tackle that issue?

SMD: It’s about making specific impacts [on] the particular student. So if you are a member of MSAN and you receive funding from the ASSU in Special Fees every year, you probably have an idea of what it does. If you’re a financial officer, you probably have an idea as well. The thing is that sometimes it’s hard for students to realize that even though they’re in the student group, a lot of the funding resources come from the ASSU and Stanford’s student government. I think, one, it’s increasing awareness about that. Two, in terms of our platform points, it’s about specific things that affect a student, such as the Cleantech mentorship program, where it’s about taking students and way increasing the value-add.

TSD: You both have a lot of ASSU experience, which has its benefits and detriments. What do you think some of the detriments are and how do you plan on accounting for them?

SMD: I think when we talk about ASSU experience, I don’t really see myself as an ASSU person. I’ve been involved in a lot of other things on campus, and I have been a Senator this year so I have that perspective as well. But both Michael and I have been involved in other things around campus. And I think it’s a value-added in the sense that we can have that perspective. The only thing I would say is that we forget sometimes that other students don’t necessarily have that perspective.

TSD: You guys have a huge platform. What’s the first issue you’re going to tackle or the first step you’re going to take in making sure that all of these visions can become a reality?

MC: Our first step is the step that we took this weekend, in bringing our chief of staff onto our cabinet, so we’ve published an application online.

SMD: I have no doubt that if we put together the right team, we can accomplish everything on that platform.

TSD: Out of all the ideas on your slate, which is the most exciting, important or innovative?

SMD: The things that I’m most excited about are tech-related. I’m interested in leveraging some of the skills that I have, such as [the fact] that I took CS193P and now can make an iPhone app for the student body.

TSD: What is the app?

SMD: The kind of end goal is that you could create your student group VSO on the iPhone app, and then you’d be able to communicate via text message, via email, Facebook, Twitter very easily with your student group members.

MC: One initiative that we’re working on is to create databases for student groups and student leaders to facilitate better communication — using things like the iPhone app, Facebook, Twitter, websites — to better allow them to have a record of how they’ve communicated, such as, “I sent this email, and I got this response, and this is how I can better outreach.” Just filling in those gaps where people sometimes fall through.

TSD: One part of your platform that grabbed a lot of attention was your ideas about Stanford Dining. Do you think they’re feasible?

MC: Yes, I 100 percent think that they’re feasible…We’ve really found R&DE excited about working with us and making Stanford Dining a better experience for students, like this idea of 24-hour or continuous dining that we’re planning on working on.

SMD: I’d say the ideas themselves are ambitious; the action plans are rigorously feasible.

TSD: Can you each tell us something interesting about yourself that has nothing to do with your campaign or your platform?

SMD: During fall quarter, I started the Stanford Quidditch Team.

MC: My thumbs can pop out.