(full transcript)
Todd Mann
President
Age 21
Major: Political science
Year: Junior
Hometown: Springfield, Ore.
 
Jontae Grace
Vice President
Age: 19
Major: History
Hometown: Portland, Ore.
Year: Sophomore
 
Emerald: Briefly summarize your platform.
Grace: Our platform is simple, we want to advocate for students by one, making the processes and the structure of the ASUO transparent to the common student.
Mann: By transparent we mean making all processes of the ASUO systematic, clear. This means promoting the ASUO as an organization meant to lead students in an open and welcoming way, not to run their University and handle their money. We would like the ASUO to have information more easily accessible to everyone, including the Emerald, the Commentator and the average student. Also, developing a Web site to make it more user-friendly, easily updateable for staff members would aid this effort.
And then our main issues would be keeping the incidental fee and tuition at an appropriate level for students, (and )increasing student oversight and input into the legislative processes of the University, Eugene-Springfield community; and on the state level.
Grace: We want our students to be prepared for a global job market, an increasing global job market, and part of that is by including an all-inclusive, diverse educational curriculum as well as a diverse environment here at the University. So we advocate for increasing diversity and the academic aspects of student life from the faculty on down, and we feel that a more inclusive educational experience would increase graduation rates among underrepresented students.
Mann: We would also like the ASUO – we think it should represent all students and reaffirm its commitment to a lot of forgotten students, including international, graduate and residence hall students. The ASUO first must recognize the impact these students have on the campus community, and develop policies and services that reflect their concerns and needs. The ASUO, we believe, should be diverse and all-inclusive while soliciting underrepresented students ideas and input into the decision-making processes.
Todd and Jontae will work to develop a long-term sustainability plan which will include reducing consumption and bringing wind power to the residence halls. We will work with DPS and the city of Eugene to identify poorly lit areas of campus and reevaluate campus parking.
Emerald: What qualifies you for this position?
Mann: We both have a lot of experience within the campus community, specifically within Executive. I have headed the second-largest student group on campus, the Residence Hall Association, for the past two years as RHA president. I currently have 13 officers in my executive. I have appointed seven of those officers through a selection process and the other six were elected. I work with the legislative body of 20 representatives, which is actually a little bit larger than the Senate. With that executive experience, I believe that alone separates us from that other candidates. It’s very different from being a chair on a committee to being an executive of an organization. I have sat on dozens of search committees for candidates including they’re requiring PhDs, master’s degrees through University housing. Being an executive is something that I think definitely will separate us from the other candidates. Actually being the figurehead of an organization and representing that entire organization when you speak in public and being able to represent all of their issues and concerns on a broad scale.
Grace: I am a resident assistant currently, and I have been since September. One of the main points of my job is to create an all-inclusive, positive residence hall community through effective programming, and also I am responsible for maintaining a safe environment by documenting violations of the Student Conduct Code. So I think that that aspect gives me the accountability needed to take this position. Also, since I have to do programs that are inclusive of the entire residence hall community, it helps us not to just represent just one outlook, or not to represent one student or student group because that is part of our jobs – to represent the entire spectrum. And I just want to say that as a resident assistant, my job is basically to serve. And that is what I would bring to this vice presidential position, is the service needed to make sure that the processes of the ASUO work for us.
Mann: I think another thing that our, experience-wise, that really separates us is the fact that we have a lot of experience with the issues that are going on right now. The Westmoreland situation: I am the only candidate who has been involved since the beginning and I am taking a very strong position opposing the Westmoreland sale and I have been a very strong advocate for those people. I think that’s definitely something that separates us from other candidates.
Wind energy is another big one that for some reason, some of the other candidates have put on their platform, conveniently. That is an issues, that’s a residence hall issue and I currently am the person advocating for that within Housing. And so that gives us a very unique perspective. Also, consolidated debt pool is an issue that’s coming up with Westmoreland. That’s something I have the experience dealing with; I’ve advocated with the governor himself. We currently, since we’ve worked with these people, we have Bing Li’s endorsement, who’s the chair of the Westmoreland Tenants Council. We also have the endorsement of Julian Catchen, who’s the president of the GTFF, two prominent people in this fight to save Westmoreland.
Emerald: Why do you want this job?
Mann: To restore faith in student leadership, when it really comes down to it. We feel that students have been disillusioned by the system. Right now the policies and services that come out of the ASUO don’t necessarily reflect the needs and concerns of every student. We feel that there’s certain specific groups that I mentioned earlier that are underrepresented. And because they don’t vote, they’re going to continue to be underrepresented. And that’s something that I personally want to change. I want to see faith restored in student government because I think it’s a very important part of the college experience.
Grace: I believe that the only way to lead is by serving, and I believe that the ASUO, Senate and the committees – all the way down to the common, average student – they want someone that is easily accessible to them, someone that they can either come talk to or call and know that their concerns are going to be not only considered, but addressed. So my job, I want to increase community channels between the student leadership and the administration and also the students and the student leadership.
Emerald: What should be the role of student government in city, state, national and international politics?
Mann: The student government should play a huge role in advocating for students on all three of those levels. I personally have advocated for students, both on the city level, the county level and on the state level with the governor. I feel that as a representative body of all students at the University of Oregon we play a huge role in affecting things like access to higher education. If we can affect the level of tuition, also the Oregon Opportunity Grant is a great, something that they signed into law last year, Gov. Kulongoski, but make sure that that grant is funded. There’s certain things that we can do that we have a lot of say in, and people do listen. That’s one thing, if you actually do talk to congressmen, they really do care about what students have to say. And it really – if we vote we even have more power in that regard. So yes, we can play a huge role, and a lot of our platform statements reflect the fact that we will work with the community, especially in the city of Eug
ene.
Grace: I think that certain aspects of the federal level are beyond our scope, and I think that it’s a balancing act. I think that there are things at the federal level that we can work to impact, but at the same time the ASUO Senate and the administration should be careful to discern which ones are beyond our scope and which ones are possible.
Mann: I think what he’s referring to is the Iran situation, not necessarily tuition or federal aid. That’s something that students can influence is federal aid, not necessarily Iran.