Presidential candidate Eric Qualheim is a sophomore journalism major. His running mate, Brian Boone, is a junior journalism major.
Q: What is your platform?

A: Our platform has two main points. The first is scholarship availability. We’d like to see the student funds divided in a way that each student contributes $1 of their incidental fee to a scholarship fund. This would create a fund of approximately $17,000, which would enable someone, whether it be the ASUO or a student election to vote who gets the scholarships, to get a really great financial aid package.
Also, we have strong opinions about campus safety. Mainly it has to do with the little security kiosks, the yellow things here on campus. We have noticed that they are generally right by buildings. They are not really in wide areas, and when you are at night walking alone on campus, you have to walk through these wide-open areas. So we want more of those, and we want them to be more visible and replace the blue lights with red lights that makes them more available, more visible and more useful.
Q: How does your decision to run fit into your ultimate career goals?
A: I wouldn’t say that it affects my career choice very much, but I do feel that running for student government is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone has an equal responsibility to take part in the government of the University. As long as you are a student, you definitely need to participate in your government, whether it is just voting or trying to hold an office yourself. Everyone needs to take that chance.
Q: What specific campus-orientated initiatives will you champion?
A: [Eric] Since I have been a student here, there have been no reported attacks by vampires, and I feel this is not a coincidence. I’d like to continue to keep the University of Oregon vampire-free.
[Brian] We support students that are dedicating making the University a more positive place to learn and socialize. We feel that those who make a positive difference … strengthen our community because student government is not just for the ASUO Executive.
Q: What will you advocate on the state level for students, and how will you carry out your plans?
A: [Eric] To be realistic, we won’t be able to affect anything on the state level. What we can do is try and reallocate and reshape how the student incidental fee is used to benefit students.
[Brian] No student government official has been able to do it yet. Every year, every candidate promises tuition freezes, and maybe they get them, but I don’t think that really has anything to do with student government. I think that is a state government or federal government type of thing. It’s just perfunctory that student advocates show up and advocate that. We are powerless. We are college students. We are poor. We mean nothing. It’s true.
Q: What is your definition of student activism?
A: My definition of student activism is fighting for what is right, fighting for what you believe in, regardless if it has a positive effect on the rest of the community or not.
Q: How do you define diversity? And how do you plan on bringing together the diverse voices on campus?
A: [Eric] I’d like to see all the voices brought together in a large choir of students who’d like to sing. Seriously, diversity is the coming together of people from every walk of life. There is an enormous variety in the types of students and people that are involved with University life. It’s not as important to have strong groups as it is to have a wide variety of groups. If there is a student union missing for some minority on campus, it is very important that they have the chance to take part in student politics.
[Brian] You know what we should do, we should get a bunch of little kids from the Eugene area from various races, religions, sexual orientations, and you know, “We are the World,” the 1985 Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones “USA for Africa” thing. We get all these kids and we dress them all up like all the rock stars. We could have a little kid dressed up like Springsteen, little kid dressed up like Dylan, little kid dressed up like Ray Charles, preferably a real blind kid.
[Eric] It’s true, people love children.
[Brian] They could sing “We are the World” and pass a plate around.
[Eric] That fits in beautifully with the choir idea.
[Brian] It also kind of fits in with the scholarship idea. We could add that money to the scholarship fund. We could benefit two students instead of one.
Q: If two student groups were at odds with each other, how would you resolve the conflict?
A: [Brian] First, I would consult past student government officials about it: Wylie Chen and Mitra Anoushiravani, Jim Brisben, Molly Manger [sarcastically referring to the current Executive, Jay Breslow and Holly Magner] — then just let the two student groups have at it in the media.
[Eric] I’d like to see differences settled in a pit of Jell-O.
Q: If there were one thing you could change about the University instantly, what would it be?
A: I’d like to see less daylight. Skin cancer is something that everyone needs to be concerned about, not just the elderly.
Q: Recent history shows a tense relationship between the ASUO Executive and University President Dave Frohnmayer. Do you plan on improving that relationship and, if so, how?
A: [Eric] Oh, we are much more likable than past executives, and I think that we would have an excellent relationship with President Frohnmayer. We’d like to begin this by inviting him to have lunch with us and possibly take a tour of the campus late at night, so he can see how dangerous it is and experience the lack of the safety beacons for himself.
[Brian] He’d probably like us because we … don’t really protest anything. We haven’t really camped out on his lawn. I’ve never been arrested at Johnson Hall.
Q: How will you carry out things differently than current President Jay Breslow and Vice President Holly Magner?
A: [Brian] Who?
[Eric] We don’t have much of a basis for what we would do differently from Jay and Holly, seeing as how we are not exactly sure what they have done while they have been in office. While nice people, Jay and Holly haven’t done much but push for more voters on campus. So I think as long as we are visible as the ASUO Executive, we’ll be on the right track, and be doing better than Jay and Holly.