Tomorrow, Nov. 18, voting will begin for the 2014 Fall Quarter ASUCD elections to determine six new ASUCD senators. The Aggie Editorial Board interviewed and evaluated each of the seven senate candidates, and, because of the small number of candidates, we chose to endorse two. In each candidate, we looked for someone who had a strong understanding of ASUCD and its workings, who had feasible, tangible platforms that would positively affect a large number of students and who displayed a strong ability to contribute and thrive in the senate environment.
We hereby endorse the following candidates, in order of our preference:
1) Roman Rivilis — Independent
Rivilis, out of all the candidates, by far had the greatest knowledge and understanding of ASUCD, and we can attribute this to his constant activity and participation within the association over the past three years. His platforms – creating a program to put peer advisors in the Financial Aid office, mobilizing the Greek system to work with The Pantry by holding food drives and philanthropy events and developing an accessible testing center for students with disabilities – are conducive to helping vasts amounts of students in a tangible way. Rivilis fully understands the ASUCD budget and is aware of the current complications with the Intercollegiate Athletics program. Additionally, Rivilis’ decision to run independently from a political slate convinced us of his desire to work across party lines to effect real change on campus.
2) Casey Nguyen — S.M.A.R.T.
Nguyen made a strong impression on the Editorial Board with her platforms – creating an early academic probation and subject to dismissal warning system and expanding and establishing new and current resources for sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention on campus – and with what she has already done to try to accomplish them. The Editorial Board strongly identified with Nguyen’s second platform. Regardless if she is elected or not, we feel that she will be a strong influence toward creating a safer community and a vital resource in trying to stop sexual assault and harassment at UC Davis. Nguyen knows how ASUCD works, and she understands how the resources of the greater campus community can help assist in accomplishing her platforms, and we think that she would be a valuable ASUCD asset if elected.
Votes can be cast online at the ASUCD elections website, elections.ucdavis.edu, from Nov. 18 at 8 a.m. to Nov. 21 at 8 a.m.
