From April 1 to April 3, The Daily Emerald moderated the Associated Students of the University of Oregon’s presidential and vice presidential debates and a candidate town hall, introducing over 50 candidates, including the two ASUO president and two vice president candidates for the 2025 ASUO spring election.
Each presidential and vice presidential pairing ran under a group known as a “slate.” The two slates for the 2025 election are Unite UO, led by Taliek Lopez-DuBoff and Madisen Kunkler and UO Student Power, led by Prissila Moreno and Jordan Ackemann.
Each slate ran on platforms including student representation, building relationships with student organizations and the use of the student Incidental Fee.
Voting will begin on April 7 at 9 a.m. and will close on April 11 at 12 p.m. All UO students who have paid the I-Fee are eligible to vote.
There is a joint presidential and vice presidential debate on April 8 at 6 p.m.
Unite UO
Taliek Lopez-DuBoff
Position Sought: ASUO President
Current ASUO Position: ASUO Speaker of the Legislature
School Year: Sophomore
During the presidential debate, Lopez-DuBoff emphasized that his “day one priorities” would be to ensure ASUO has people who are focussed on matters that are most important on campus, including basic needs and accessibility.
He also said that he will start his tenure by being “proactive with student organizations.”
“Everything starts with the relationship you have with somebody else,” Lopez-DuBoff said. “It starts with having individual relationships with (the ASUO) officers.”
In terms of prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion amid the Trump administration, Lopez-DuBoff said that he will make sure ASUO is hiring individuals that represent the student body.
“We (ASUO/Unite UO) are going to look at majors and make sure we have people that can represent all different backgrounds,” Lopez-DuBoff said.
Lopez-DuBoff said that his three largest changes that he plans to bring to ASUO are protecting spaces on campus like the Men’s Resource Center, student organizations receiving the funding they need and taking the problems on campus to UO, Oregon’s Legislative or the federal government.
Madisen Kunkler
Position Sought: ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Position: Departments Finance Committee At-Large Representative
School Year: Sophomore
During the vice presidential debate, Kunkler said that Unite UO is built to represent students.
“I hope that when you see Unite UO you know that there is someone you could relate to,” Kunkler said.
In terms of working to make ASUO more approachable, Kunkler said she would create a one-pager with all the needed information for student organizations to know, for when they go up against the ASUO Senate for funding.
Kunkler also said a policy she is most excited about is engagement and outreach within ASUO.
If elected, Kunkler said she will focus on ensuring the process student organizations go through to get surplus funds is easier.
“ASUO is really inaccessible and people don’t know who we are or what we do on the campus,” Kunkler said. “The way we can build a relationship between ASUO and the student body is starting from the ground up with those people who are just new on campus.”
Kunkler said that she will continue to support unions amidst unionization on campus.
UO Student Power
Prissila Moreno
Position Sought: ASUO President
Current ASUO Position: ASUO Senator
School Year: Junior
During the presidential debate on April 1, Moreno emphasized in her opening statement that she is running because she feels that ASUO has not played its part in supporting students coming together and acting as a “political force.”
“I believe that our student government can be more than just a budget manager. It can be a political force. (UO) Student Power is running on labor rights, multiculturalism, basic needs and academic services,” Moreno said.
When asked how UO Student Power differs from her opposing slate, Moreno highlighted the student organizations that her members have been involved in and how that shapes her slate, like OSPIRG and Climate Justice League.
“In the past couple of days, we’ve had over 700 conversations, and I think that’s a testament to the organizing that we’re able to do out there on campus,” Moreno said. “We’ve been fighting for climate justice, we’ve been fighting for racial equity and workers’ rights through campus for years, so we don’t just say that we hear you. We show up and we act with you.”
Moreno said that one of her goals is to bring together the student body and ASUO, especially during a time where some students are being isolated due to federal government regulations.
“In times like these, where there’s students being harmed already by federal orders and policies, I don’t think that ASUO can afford to be solely politically neutral…ASUO must be a force that stands with students, especially those most targeted, marginalized and silenced,” Moreno said.
Jordan Ackemann
Position Sought: ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Position: Senator for the Contracts Finance Committee
School Year: Junior
During the vice presidential debate on April 3, Ackemann said in his opening statement that his goal for ASUO is to bring the organization to students instead of letting students come to them.
“It (ASUO) could become an organization that goes to students instead of forcing students to come to it,” Ackemann said. “The core policy is the student power. It’s the root of the issues on campus.”
Ackemann touched on all the vital issues that he and his slate believe need changing into the upcoming year, and these are: labor rights, multiculturalism, basic needs and academic services.
“We must use the very political resources and structures of ASUO to turn it into a political force,” Ackemann said.
Ackemann also mentioned his opinion on the abundance of “red tape” rules by ASUO that he feels need to be cut down on.
“We really need to cut down on whatever (red tape) rules we can to make it easier for students,” Ackemann said.
Ackemann said that the most significant future potential policy he and his slate are most looking forward to enacting is about labor rights and labor unions on campus.
“Working with unions, advocating with unions as best as we can, not just in a way where historically they’ve taken administration or the Board of Trustees or president and ran with it,” Ackemann said.
Ackemann said he and his slate’s solution to easing labor organizations’ worries and potential issues is by hiring labor organizers to represent the union groups and work to represent and create outreach with them and the university.
“…Also hiring labor organizers as best as we can… and I don’t think there’s an issue with hiring folks who are doing organizing on campus that is labor related if they are also part of the union.”
