The Patriot’s ASUC endorsements
From the April 2007 Print Edition
Academic Affairs VP: Carolina Jauregui
The academic affairs vice president gets the least amount of attention of all the executive positions, which means it is held the least accountable. It is no wonder then that SQUELCH! candidate John O’Connor proposed taking $30,000 to a roulette table in Las Vegas if he was elected. With an office that seems so meaningless, why would anyone stop SQUELCH!’s risky Vegas investment? Clearly, an office that controls a significant amount of our money warrants more scrutiny that it is currently being given.
The current culture of the Student Action party suggests that it cannot be fully trusted in a position no one holds accountable. CalSERVE’s Carolina Jauregui will bring to the office better oversight and an increased participation from the student body. She plans to promote student representation in the Academic Senate and streamline the avenues through which students can be involved in the academic process. Jauregui is fully aware of the limitations that UC Berkeley’s bureaucratic labyrinth creates, but her previous work on the ASUC Senate Finance Committee has given her the skills to navigate the red tape as our AAVP.
Jauregui wants to reform the grant process by making it democratic and transparent, while expanding its accessibility. Her emphasis on equal student participation stands in marked contrast to Student Action’s use of patronage. Student Action Senator Curtis Lee noted that he would rely on the application process to provide fair consideration to academic administrative committee applicants, but it is highly doubtful that a simple application process can reduce political favoritism.
Lee has many ambitious ideas, but they merely increase the size of an office the existence of which seems superfluous. Student Web portals and increased campus career services are commendable projects, but an office like the AAVP needs to empower students more and the ASUC less. Jauregui seems more concerned with the interests of the students, and not ASUC interns.
External Affairs VP: Dwight Asuncion
Our student leaders constantly remind us that our interests as UC Berkeley students are not being represented. Ironically, the same student leaders are the very ones responsible for our lack of representation. Of course, no one from the office of the external affairs vice president will tell you that. Instead, the EAVP office blames others for its own inability to represent us, and it does so by organizing the collective scapegoating field trip known as Cal Lobby Day.
If the voice of UC Berkeley’s student body is truly stifled, it is because those who represent us cannot get their priorities straight. The UCSA, the official organization that lobbies Sacramento and the Regents on behalf of all UC students, has proven to be another counterproductive voice of the left. It is our hope that the candidate we endorse will bring the student voice back into focus.
Dwight Asuncion’s authorship of The Green Initiative Fund is admittedly troubling. Through TGIF, all students could be facing a minority-imposed fee increase to pay for a directionless environmental program. However, the sum of Asuncion’s record in the ASUC Senate is encouraging and more representative, we hope, of the values he will bring to the office of EAVP. During the past year, Asuncion has stood up to most of the nonsense that the rest of the ASUC Senate has attempted to pass. Regarding his conservative background, he told us, “I’m not ashamed of who I am.” We hope he brings the same attitude to the UCSA the next time it passes irrelevant resolutions supporting racial preferences or accusing the UCPD of brutality.
Campus safety is the most important but most ignored issue facing Cal students. Past EAVPs have especially turned a blind eye to the negative effect that the homeless have had on student safety. As a senator, Asuncion has actually acknowledged this problem and will work closely with officials from the UCPD to bring about a safer campus.
Asuncion’s opponent, CalSERVE candidate Daniel Montes, should be given credit for his effective leadership in ACCESS, a non-ASUC group which has successfully lobbied the Berkeley City Council on a number of local issues. Through ACCESS, Montes has proven to be a powerful voice in City Hall for his fellow students, which is why we encourage him to continue his work as a non-ASUC actor.
Asuncion’s experience, along with his willingness to stand up to the norm, will make him a responsible voice for UC Berkeley.
Executive VP: Taylor Allbright
The ASUC Senate is one big problem with 20 different excuses. With so many inflated egos coming into conflict, the senate requires a firm executive vice president who can maintain decorum. Current CalSERVE senator Taylor Allbright fits that description.
The Patriot is certainly no fan of Allbright’s liberal leanings. Yet the problem of a runaway senate is in need of Allbright’s overriding ability to adhere to Robert’s Rules of Order, which will prove to be an effective tool against any senator’s nonsensical personal agenda. She stated, “We have procedures designed to control a runaway senate, and I will implement them.” Allbright understands that the senate is a place for civil debate, where the tone will be set by student-group leaders, not ASUC elites. She emphasized, “I have great faith in my ability to be an impartial chair.” Essentially, Allbright believes in the equal participation of all UC Berkeley students.
Allbright is not shy about the senate’s primary defects, which means she will provide real solutions to the ASUC. If an EVP is unwilling to recognize the problems of a runaway senate in the first place, what hope do students have of a student government that can meet their needs? Allbright explicitly acknowledged that, currently, “senators are not representing all the students.” Meanwhile, her opponent seems to ignore the real problem plaguing her colleagues. Student Action Senator Eunice Moon expressed that she did not foresee any senators ignoring their constituents, but you don’t have to be a Berkeley College Republican to know that your ASUC senators are ignoring you.
Moon’s plan to increase senate transparency addresses the information asymmetry between individual senators, not between students and their government. The senate’s lack of communication with the students is a bigger concern than the parties’ lack of communication with each other. It seemed that Moon’s only vehicle of communicating the senate’s actions with the student body was the ASUC’s ad space in the Daily Cal. Allbright, on the other hand, envisions a senate in which members engage in a constant dialogue with the many student organizations on campus. It is our hope that with Allbright as executive vice president, the senate will finally talk with students rather than at them.
President: Ilana Nankin
The perfect presidential candidate is hard to come by, but after this year’s chief executive dragged the ASUC through the mud, it is easy to lower one’s expectations. Despite everything that has happened this past year, however, it would be disingenuous to support anyone whose only qualification is that he or she is not Oren Gabriel.
In the ASUC Senate, CalSERVE Senator Van Nguyen has proven himself as a smart and amicable leader. While we respect his service, his record indicates that he has pursued an unabashedly partisan liberal agenda throughout his term in the senate. This may be appropriate in the senate, but it would be damaging in this executive office.
The president of the ASUC must balance the interests of all students fairly, for it is the president who projects the will of his classmates to the Chancellor, the Regents, and the California residents who pay for our education. Unlike the other executive offices, the president will have the authority to set the agenda for the entire ASUC. Can we afford an agenda centered on the repeal of Proposition 209? That is the risk in supporting Nguyen.
Ilana Nankin’s moderate record has a broader appeal, and will more appropriately reflect the will of the students. Nankin believes that the role of the ASUC is to bring people together, and we believe that the student body would benefit from this unifying vision. Furthermore, she understands the limitations of the projects she seeks to implement. She admits that her plan for a student union on lower Sproul will take longer than a year, but nonetheless hopes to break ground once she is elected. More importantly, Nankin hopes to fund this project with support from the University and outside donors, and not with a student-fee increase. Nankin stated, “I don’t want to tax people for it.”
Hopefully, Nankin will use this endorsement to restore dignity and trust to the office of the president.
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