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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2004)
EDITOR'S NOTE The Emerald's 2004 ASUO elec tions coverage will run on the back page of today's, Wednesday's and Thursday's papers. Because the ASUO Elections Board did not release its candidate list until March 31, the Emer ald had no choice but to truncate its coverage in order to inform readers be fore the primary election, which takes place April 12 through April 14. Therefore, only interviews from candidates for ASUO Executive and the ASUO Programs Fi nance Committee will be published prior to the primary election. Eden Cortez Cortez desires to represent students equally Eden Cortez, a sophomore computer science major, is run ning unopposed for ASUO Programs Finance Senator, Seat 1. Emerald: Quickly summarize your priorities. Cortez: If I was elected — 1 actually don't have priorities at this point. Basically, I'm just trying to represent every student who is at the University. I'm trying to represent students of col or, students who are active, every aspect of students. So I'm just trying to look out for them and their best interests, trying to allocate for their incidental fees so it can benefit them at a cul tural aspect, or physical or educational, any way there is. Emerald: What is your fiscal philosophy in regard to the in cidental fee? Cortez: 1 believe that to a point that we are going to spend some student funds, but it depends where we spend it, where the student Hind goes to. Like I said, if it goes to benefit the students, I'm for that. If it's funding that's not going to benefit the students in any aspect, I'm not going to do something like that. Turn to CORTEZ, page 8 Miramontes stresses smart spending Hector Miramontes, a sophomore in ternational studies major, is running for Programs Finance Committee, At-large position, one-year term. Emerald: Quickly summarize your priorities. Miramontes: Basically, I want to make sure that I'm there to represent the stu dents. So, if students — they need financ ing for a program — I want to make sure the program serves their needs. 1 want to make sure that, basically, it enhances the students' experience at the University. Emerald: What's your fiscal philosophy in regard to the incidental fee? Miramontes: I just want to make sure that we use the money as effectively as we can to maximize the benefits for all of the students. Emerald: Where do you stand on spending money for off-campus purpos es, such as the United States Student Asso ciation, the Oregon Student Association and OSP1RG? Miramontes: I believe they do really good things. If the students believe they're going to come back with some good leadership skills, good cultural ex periences and bring that back to the Uni versity, then that's good. It's basically up to the students to decide what they want Hector Miramontes in their programs and what students think will benefit them the most. Emerald: How will you work to ensure a viewpoint-neutral PFC process? Miramontes: Well, basically, hear out everyone and how they feel about each program and make sure that that meets their needs. Make sure that I'm available so people can actually voice those opinions. Emerald: What is your favorite reality television show, and how does it relate to your campaign? Miramontes: I actually don't watch much television. As far as my campaign ing, I would just say it's about building re ally good coalitions with people so that we can actually get some things done next year and actually meet the needs of the stu dents and make the school and all of the programs actually serve better — Jared Paben Petkun, Ravassipour want to change tuition rules Adam Petkun, a junior political science major, is running for ASUO president. Mena Ravassipour, a jun ior general science/pre-med major, is mnning for ASUO vice president. Emerald: Quickly summarize your priorities. Petkun: We have four main priori ties. The first is exposing and elimi nating what I like to call the sketchy scheduling penalties. Starting on day one or the term, it students have to switch out of a class ... they incur a 15 percent penalty on tuition. They only get an 85 percent refund. Not a lot of students know about it, so I'm going to let students know about it and start to work to build some sort of a grace period. This is a policy that's set by the school. They need to actually renew it every single year with the regis trar, so next time it comes up we want to be able to talk about it. Ravassipour: And then, the second portion of our platform is encouraging these confluences of unique voices on campus. And with that, we mean making the ASUO a better resource.... The third one would be the health and safety plat form issue that we're going to be raising. The health center is... kind of hidden, so they've just hired a new architect, and they're going to be making it bigger and lighter... When you look at education it's not just about learning, it's about mental and physical wellness, as well. Petkun: And then finally ... is legislative advocacy. Tu ition is going up 12 percent next year. In 1987 89, higher education was over 13 percent of the state budget. Now, we're only six percent. This is Adam Petkun Mena Ravassipour something that has to stop right now. We want to lead with a record-breaking voter-registration drive because students don't have a lot of money to lobby legislators, but we do have votes. We have almost 20,000 on this campus and 70,000 statewide. Emerald: Mow will you succeed where other administrations have failed in keeping campaign promises? Petkun: It differs from issue to issue, but for each issue we really have a plan of how we're go ing to do this. For example, the sketchy schedul ing penalty ... We want to know how the deci sions have been made in the past, why the students haven't been consulted and how we can get into the process in the future. The administra tion is going to hear what we have to say, and we're going to make that change. The first tiling we need to do is to have a record-breaking voter registration drive. I've done this in the past. I've registered over 3,000 students in the 2002 elec tion. I also have a lot of experience in legislative advocacy, winning back millions of dollars to the Oregon Opportunity Grant, winning back mon ey for the Student Child Care Block Grant and also keeping tuition out of the hands of Johnson Hall. Emerald: How will you main tain an open government that keeps students informed about the ASUO and allows adequate media access? Petkun: The most important thing is communication — being approachable. I've mn a staff of interns in the past, and we did a great job of working together... Just allowing people to come to us and feel comfortable coming to US. Emerald: What's your fiscal philosophy in re gard to the incidental fee? Petkun: Right now, the average student gradu ate is over $15,000 in debt, and that's why leg islative advocacy is so important to us. We want to make sure that the student fee is allocated properly and that it continues to serve students. But, right now, the services it provides are im measurable. In terms of the money saved by not having to buy a bus pass, the money saved by not having to buy a gym membership because you can use the (Student Recreation and Fitness Cen ter) for free — those are some of the services that it provides, and that's why it's important to have it. Emerald: What's your favorite reality television show, and how does it relate to your campaign? Petkun: My favorite reality TV show is ESPN's "Dream Job," one, because I'm a big sports fan and, second, because I really like the effort the contestants have to put into it as far as thought and planning that goes into it, and then making sure they perform when they're on the spot. — Jared Paben ELECTIONS BRIEF PSST candidates aim to give 'voice to the voiceless’ Student voters may be scratching their heads in wonder when they see "PSST" next to several candidate names on the ASUO primary ballot next week. The acronym stands for "Progressive Students Starting Today," and it's a group of 13 candidates who hope to "give a voice to the voiceless who right now are the majority of the student popu lation," according to the group's platform. PSST member Sarah Wells, who is mnning for ASUO Student Senate, said the group is not affili ated with a political party and has no official lib eral or conservative lean. She adds, however, that most members are more liberal. Wells said current senators are not in touch with their constituents. "We're not trying to push anyone out," Wells said. "We're trying to convince our peers of our abilities in making sure our funds are adequately allocated." Wells and senate candidate Emily Sousa are not labeled as PSST on the ballot, but they are members of the group. The group aims to represent students of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students; international students; non-traditional students and students active in fee-funded groups, accord ing to the platform. Wells said the idea of starting a progressive vot ing block started last year, but not enough poten tial member candidates existed to create it. "We strive for a more inclusive atmosphere for all students in all decision-making bodies on the student and administration level," according to the platform. "We propose diversity, equity, and unity in a government by ALL students for ALL students!" — Jared Paben II Hi .. . I Leslie Ankney Ankney seeks to prioritize needs Leslie Ankney, a freshman political sci ence and French major, is running for ASUO Programs Finance Committee, At large position, one-year term. Emerald: Quickly summarize your pri orities. Ankney: My priorities are to represent all students on the campus, and how I'd like to do that is by hearing some students, talking to students in my classes and around campus about what they feel is valuable and what they use as resources around the school. So basically, I'm look ing to prioritize student needs on the local scale of our university over everything else. Emerald: What's your fiscal philosophy in regard to the incidental fee? Ankney: I think we need to look at the programs that are used most by students and that we can attest that are valuable to students. For example, (Project) Saferide is used by a lot of women on campus and is valuable to them. So, I would definitely support a program like that. Programs that are harder to see value we would have to look into. I don’t think we should just au tomatically assume the budget should stay the same for each program. I think reeval uating our funding, so that we can give shares that are equal in the amount of stu dent need for them and student desire to Turn to ANKNEY, page 8 I: Ben Brown Brown wants a shirt-optional UO Ben Brown, a senior majoring in jour nalism, is running for ASUO Executive. Emerald: Quickly summarize your prior ities. Brown: I'm ninning on behalf of students for a shirt-free campus. Shirts optional. I be lieve all students should have that right and that freedom. Emerald: How will you succeed in keep ing your campaign promises where other administrations have failed? Brown: Well, I only have one promise, so it shouldn't be all that hard. Shirts optional. I believe that is extremely important. Emerald: How will you maintain an open government that keeps students in formed about the ASUO and allows ade quate media access? Brown: Well, first of all, I would like to do away with restricting access to the ASUO ex ecutives to having to go through their press person. And secondly how much more open can you be than a shirtless campus? I will demand my entire staff be shirtless. Emerald: What's your fiscal philosophy in regard to the incidental fee? Brown: I think it should be largely elimi nated. It's too big. It's too much money. Emerald: What's your favorite reality tele vision show, and how does it relate to your campaign? Brown: I don't have TV. — Jennifer Sudick
