The Daily Emerald moderated the final  debate between the 2025 Associated Students of the University of Oregon presidential and vice-presidential candidates. 

Each candidate had the opportunity to highlight their campaign goals and speak on certain issues. 

Candidates were asked about stipend delays, federal attacks on international students, transparency within ASUO and various funding projects, among other things. 

Presidential candidate Taliek Lopez-DuBoff, representing the Unite UO slate, said in his opening statement, “I know that the biggest barrier in higher education, first and foremost, is the price. ” 

“At the center of (Unite UO’s) focus lies both individuals and students and ensuring that they have the resources that they need to be successful here, whether that’s through wages or basic needs or other reassurances that they will that they need.”

Prissila Moreno, presidential candidate for the UO Student Power slate, said in her opening statement that she demonstrated the faith she has in her slate to make ASUO “more than just a budget manager” and utilize their power as organizers. 

Moreno said, “Student power is running on labor rights, multiculturalism, basic needs and academic services. And unlike our opponents, our platform doesn’t stop at buzzwords.”

After their opening statements, the candidates were then presented with the prepared questions. The debate began with a question addressing the stipend delays that many student organizations have experienced.

Lopez-DuBoff began, and  said that this issue is “one that isn’t to be taken lightly” because it affects the ability of student organizations to function effectively. 

Lopez-DuBoff mentioned that he did research to find the “root of the issue” and explained that Accounts Payable, which is responsible for distributing the stipends, does not automatically enroll students to receive the stipends and instead requires students to opt-in, which was not made clear to organizations. 

Lopez-DuBoff proposed a solution to go directly to Accounts Payable and say, “Hey, why don’t you set up every student to be able to receive a stipend immediately and if people aren’t pursuing stipends, then nothing will happen. But for those that are, they will already be entered into the system.”

Moreno for UO Student Power followed up by mentioning the working group she formed after hearing about the issue a few months ago.

“I formed a working group for the Student Stipend Solution Committee, and something we want to do is draft a letter  (to make sure that students have transparency with why their stipends are being backed up).” 

The two slates also touched on using incidental-fee funding for campaigning, which historically in ASUO has not been allowed because it is against viewpoint neutrality, according to Jordan Ackemann, UO Student Power’s vice-presidential candidate. 

Ackemann believes, however, “It would make a lot of sense for student boards to advocate for what slate they think is correct.”

Lopez-DuBoff said that this could be an opportunity to increase “voter education” within student organizations and reach more students in the student body.

“Student orgs are gonna find most people on this campus, and that’s where we can go to educate them on the options that are out there to them, in terms of ballot measures and in terms of candidates running… so I think having a provision that allows student organizations to educate the people at this campus is incredibly important,” Lopez-DuBoff said. 

With concerns rising among students and faculty regarding immigration policies, the candidates were asked to speak on the four UO students whose visas were revoked recently.

Lopez-DuBoff said, “There is not a whole lot that the student government can do in standing up to the federal government. But I think it starts with collaboration with the people that understand this university.” 

Moreno responded to this question by saying that “the attack on free speech is unfortunately mainly aimed towards students that are advocating for the Palestinian liberation movement here on campus, and we cannot ignore that.” 

She then went on to reiterate her campaign’s mission that ASUO can be a “political force” and said that “we (students) can’t expect that the administration has our best interest because they’ve shown time and time again that they do not.” 

“I want to make sure that ASUO is a place where we do stand up to administration; it’s not about having a conversation with them, it’s about standing with those students and pushing back against what the administration is doing,” Moreno said. 

Lopez-DuBoff has said previously that he does not want to “politicize” matters regarding these attacks and said, “I don’t want to politicize this because this isn’t about scoring points or getting claps for what I’m saying; these are genuinely people’s lives.” 

Moreno said, “This is a political issue… students are having their visas revoked because political decisions are being made, so how can we, as a student government, say that we cannot be political about political attacks on our students.” 

Questions arose about the reports of druggings at fraternity parties, and UO Student Power views this as “an opportunity to collaborate with Greek life and create Greek life positions within ASUO to ensure that there is direct accountability between ASUO and Greek life.”

Unite UO’s vice-presidential candidate, Madisen Kunkler, highlighted the “healthy parties” event hosted by ASUO that advocates for and teaches “safer choices and smarter habits” and hopes to expand on this program.   

The candidates were also asked to identify what they think is the largest issue on campus, and Lopez-DuBoff emphasized that “struggling with basic needs is certainly the biggest and the most challenging” issue. 

Unite UO plans to look into hosting a basic needs forum and increase the textbook and housing subsidies.

“Being able to give you all (students) the opportunity to tell us (ASUO) what is most important to you I believe, will help reduce that big challenge that is struggling with basic needs,” Lopez-DuBoff said. 

UO Student Power has openly advocated for the unions on campus throughout their campaign, and Moreno said she “believe(s) that the biggest issue we are facing is the labor rights issue on our campus.”

“Standing with our unions and making sure that they get fair pay and get their demands met by the administration is our first step to addressing the basic needs issue,” Moreno said. 

 The candidates were asked about how they plan to maintain professionalism on the Senate floor when disagreements arise.

‘Disagreement is inevitable in these kinds of (legislative) situations, in these rooms, and it can make policy, but where the issue lies is when people get disrespectful to orgs and when they get disrespectful to other senators, and that’s behavior that is intolerable in any way,” Lopez-DuBoff said.