In her time at the University, ASUO Vice President-elect Chii-San SunOwen has watched the student government process from nearly every angle. Her peers praise her dedication and say this experience is essential to her new position.
From working as a co-director of the Asian-Pacific American Student Union to serving in a Programs Finance Committee Senate seat, SunOwen has been in leadership positions on both sides of the budget process. Now she says she is “ready for the next step” in developing her leadership skills.
SunOwen said she chose to run for ASUO Executive because she felt she was qualified for the position and wanted to continue to be involved.
“I want to continue being the voice for students and being able to have more of an active role as well,” she said.
When the time came to decide what to run for, SunOwen wanted to be the vice president because she felt her experience on the PFC prepared her to deal with groups’ finances and the budget process.
SunOwen said the only clearly defined distinction in the duties of the president and vice president is that the vice president works with the ASUO Finance Coordinator to come up with budget recommendations for each group, contract and department that appears before the PFC.
Matt Rose, who served on the PFC with SunOwen, said she did a great job of crunching numbers and often came up with ideas for budget allocations no one else had thought of.
SunOwen said this year the PFC was made up of entirely new members and it took a long time for her and the other members to familiarize themselves with the budget process. She wants to help next year’s PFC ease into the process.
“I (will be) continuing the learning process that I went through – there’s a lot of new members – making sure that there’s someone there with at least a year’s experience and getting more of an institutional memory and historical context put into the PFC process,” she said.
Rose said it is crucial to have someone in the Executive who understands how the budget process works. He said even though the EMU Board and the Athletic Department Finance Committee also go through budget processes, an understanding of the PFC is important because that committee affects the most students.
President-elect Emily McLain said she and SunOwen “kind of picked each other” as running mates because they have worked together all year.
“She’s always the one in the office early in the morning like I am, so I think we have a similar work ethic,” McLain said. “She’s talented. She has a lot of experience and she knows what’s going on around campus with the student groups.”
One of the main points of McLain and SunOwen’s platform was the idea that programs and the ASUO need to be familiar with each other’s processes.
SunOwen said programs aren’t always familiar with the way the student government works, so she wants to hold “ASUO 101” discussions that could be catered to the needs and questions of individual programs.
She said part of the problem occurs when programs have high turnover because new leaders transition in every year and are not familiar with how to receive funding.
Rose said because “the theme of this election year has been reform,” the Executive staff needed someone who understands the internal workings of the PFC. He said someone with SunOwen’s experience can see the good and bad things about the process.
McLain said SunOwen is a dedicated lobbyist who cares about students and will be able to speak from her experience on this year’s PFC.
“I think she’ll add a lot of unique ability because she has been there this year for a lot of the contentious issues,” McLain said. “She’ll have the memory that is really necessary to be there for the Senate and she’ll be able to offer a voice of experience.”
This year, several student senators spoke of having difficulty contacting programs to talk with them about the budget process. SunOwen said she will work to ensure the Executive is promoting contact between the ASUO and programs.
SunOwen said she thinks the PFC has the ability to contact each group prior to the start of the budget process, even if it means going to the group’s meetings. She said when she takes office, she will keep track of when and where each group meets.
She also said she and McLain will make sure senators are informing themselves about groups and not just waiting for groups to reach out to them, but added there needs to be communication on both sides.
“I think it needs to work both ways and be a mutual effort,” she said.
Although the first order of business for the new Executive is to hire a staff, SunOwen said she would like to start off working on some key issues of the platform, including making course syllabuses available at registration, an issue she said was very well received by students she spoke with on the street.
SunOwen said her best asset is her approachability and she will be “another voice, another face” for students on campus. McLain agreed.
“She’s friendly and people are comfortable talking to her,” McLain said. “She’s a great advocate for students.”
Rose said SunOwen cares deeply about the people she works for and will not let politics get in the way of what is best for students.
“She’s one of the most passionate, dedicated people I’ve ever met,” he said. “She truly does care about all students and fighting for all of them. Regardless of what people may say about her, she will fight tooth and nail for all the students on this campus.”
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