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