Interview by Charmaine Ng
Video by Chelsea Vadakin
Even before Alex McCafferty laid a foot in the dorms, he knew ASUO was the place for him. He started an internship fall of freshman year and became chairman of the Athletic Department Finance Committee winter quarter. As a sophomore, he was elected to Senate and eventually became President. During that year, he instituted the online ticketing system and removed the OSPIRG contract. For the past year, he has acted as Senate Ombudsman and chaired the Athletic Contracts Finance Committee. Outside of the ASUO, McCafferty sits on the University Hearings Board in the Office of Student Advocacy, which hears conduct cases, and also serves on the Board of Directors for the Oregon Daily Emerald. In the following interview the ASUO 2010 presidential candidate explains his view of campus diversity and the issues he plans to tackle if elected.
Charmaine Ng: How has your perspective affected how you approach the culture here at the University of Oregon?
Alex McCafferty: When I first got to Oregon, I was honestly fairly surprised at first. It wasn’t as much diversity as where I’m coming from [California]. But at the same time, the U.O. is a place of different cultures, so many perspectives, and I think that’s one of the real reasons why the ASUO is so important because we represent every student on campus. Getting into ASUO, I’m getting to know all the different student groups and being immersed in the EMU and the centralized student culture here on campus. It is a very diverse community, and that’s one of the most important things about why the ASUO funds all these important programs.
CN: How do you plan on nurturing and increasing diversity on campus?
AM: The biggest thing is if elected to student body president, I am the representative for every student on campus. It doesn’t matter what their political opinion or background or where they come from is. I am their representative, and I take that very seriously. So to enhance that culture, I want to be welcoming to every student. I want to be accessible to every group, no matter what.
CN: How do you plan on giving student unions more of a voice on campus? Is that your plan: just to make sure they’re educated and they can do more on campus?
AM: There are so many new student groups. The problem with ASUO bureaucracy is no matter how large it is, no matter how well-supported it is, you can only start with $300. And say, if a new student group comes in and they want to put on these great events with a lot of attendance, they need more than $300 to do that, honestly. One of the things I want to do if elected is make it easier for those new student groups to secure more funding to put on those events. [I want to do this by changing] the rules. As student body president, I do have the authority to make proposals, explain to Senate and ratify a change in the ASUO Green Tape Notebook [the Constitution of the ASUO where all rules are recorded].
CN: You talk a lot about football tickets and student parking. Is there anything else that’s equally important and relevant to minorities that you’re going to work on?
AM: I talk about them a lot, but that doesn’t mean they’re more important than another. All issues on my platform are all equally important to me. I think our goals with the EMU is what echoes more to student groups. Honestly, there are so many great student groups that need meeting spaces and need places to meet, but there is not enough room. What we’re focusing on is the new EMU that we want to have built. Even though it won’t be constructed during our tenure at the University, next year, we will have such a huge say. And one of the things we want to do is make sure that we can accommodate all the new student groups that want to meet and need meeting space to function properly.
CN: One of your platform points is to keep the administration accountable. How do you plan on doing that, especially with the University Affirmative Action Plan?
AM: As student body president and vice president, we are the direct liaison between the students and the administration. We have a direct link to Robin Holmes, Vice President of Student Affairs. And we have guaranteed seats on the Associated Presidential Advisory Council (ASPAC). Through those committees and those direct connections, we can make them accountable. We say, “Look, Mr. President or Vice President Holmes, these are issues that are important to students. Please get this done.” We can make sure that the things like the Diversity Plan, the Affirmative Action Plan, are being taken care of and being filed on time because it was 13 months late this year, which is absolutely ridiculous.
CN: Speaking of the Diversity Plan, how do you plan on holding those cultural responsiveness training sessions? That ballot measure passed, and now that’s part of your responsibility.
AM: I haven’t worked out the exact details of the plan, but I mean, it is required now. And the Diversity Plan is so important to the ASUO because there’s so many different student groups and so many different cultures that the ASUO represents, and again, we are student leaders for every student on campus. There are also 20 senators […] and they need to have that equal mindset of “we are leaders for every student on campus.” Having those cultural competency trainings enhances that and makes them aware of every side, every perspective and every background. With Senate coming and the executive staff being required to come we can perpetuate that good culture in the ASUO.
CN: Besides the ASUO, how do you plan on improving cultural competence and acceptance in the community and in Eugene?
AM: I think it’s all about awareness, awareness of all the cultures we have here on campus, awareness of all the diversity that we actually have on campus, awareness of all the good things that are going on in the basement of the EMU. When I came here, I didn’t see that much diversity because on the outside it may not look that way, but when I got involved in the ASUO, that’s when I became aware of all the student groups in the area.
I think the direct way we can do that is really, really hammering down on an all-ASUO calendar, making sure that every event is publicly known. Our student groups put on so many good events, and if we have them well-publicized and well-advertised, that’s how we can let everybody know about what a diverse place this is and educate them on all the different cultures that there are out there.
See Ethos’ interview with Alex’s opponent, Amélie Rousseau. Voting ended Thursday, April 8, 2010 with Amélie as the winner.