Monica Irvin
Age: 19
Hometown: Alturas, Calif.
Major: Business
Year: Sophomore
Emerald: What qualifies you for this position?
Irvin: Currently I hold a position with MECha, which is another student organization on campus. I’m the budget coordinator so I’ve gone through the processes of dealing with Senate and preparing a budget and the finance kind of aspect of it. I believe that’s where I’ve gotten my experience. What you learn in business school I guess helps a lot — the basics in like knowing the more procedural side — I don’t know. I’ve learned through that kind of stuff.
Emerald: Why do you want this job?
Irvin: I don’t know exactly — what’s just like a straight answer. Having dealt with them or like having experienced like their meetings and stuff it always seems like it would be a fun thing to do and interesting and different and another way to get involved, another experience. I didn’t really know how, and then I was talking to people and they said ‘you should do it.” So I said ok.
Emerald: In light of the ASUO retreat to Sunriver, Ore., what do you feel is the best way to ensure proper accountability from student leaders next year if you’re elected?
Irvin: I don’t know exactly — better choose — I don’t know an answer necessarily, a way to like reassure
Emerald: Just to ensure proper accountability in all cases in student leaders
Irvin: Well you don’t know the people, and if what they’re doing — like on a retreat and stuff, it affects it, but what they do outside I guess is kind of their own business than what you do in the senate, like the way you perform is different. On something like a retreat, definitely just making sure that you have established rules and make that people follow them and there are consequences for those who don’t. I means that’s all I can really say to ensure something like that.
Emerald: Now do you feel the Senate should be dealing with any other issues that it is not currently attending to?
Irvin: I don’t have like any of my own agendas in any way. Pretty much whatever they’ll give me I’ll do.
Emerald: If you could summarize your platform in a couple of sentences, what would you say?
Irvin: I’m kind of just going in there. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about like everything that they do and everything that they have control of or what they don’t have control of or anything like that necessarily. I’ll just definitely be open- minded and willing to work and just really want to the job I guess. And so as far as my own — once I get in there, I’ll start getting more involved with it, right now like it’s just the beginning of running for it and figuring out what projects we have going and we find something there. But as far as going in there with all these personal goals or like agendas for where the school should go, that’s up to the people.
Emerald: The people?
Irvin: The students.
Emerald: Just to follow up, you think the students should determine the agenda? I didn’t quite understand that.
Irvin: No, I just think that — I just don’t have an agenda of my own necessarily.