Chloé Webster, the ASUO president, listens alongside other ASUO senators as people speak in support of NASU and the Mother’s Day Powwow at the senate meeting on March 13, 2024. Over 150 students and community members protested the decision made by the ASUO to schedule the spring concert on the same weekend as the 56th Annual Mother’s Day Powwow, a community and cultural event planned by the Native American Student Union. (Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
On April 2, the Daily Emerald partnered with the Associated Students of the University of Oregon to host a presidential and vice presidential debate introducing the six 2024 ASUO presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Each presidential and vice presidential pairing ran under a group known as a “slate”. The three slates for the 2024 election are Flock Forward, led by Cash Kowalski and María Soto Cuesta; OurUO, led by Mariam Hassan and Kikachi “Kiki” Akpakwu; and UO Student Power, led by Max Jensen and Maxwell Gullickson. Each slate ran on varying yet similar views ranging from student representation, food accessibility and the use of the student Incidental-Fee.
Voting began on April 3 at 9 a.m. and will close on April 8 at 9 a.m. All UO students who have paid the I-Fee are eligible to vote
Learn more about each individual candidate, their campaign priorities and answers to student-asked debate questions below.
Flock Forward
Position Sought: ASUO President
Current ASUO Position: ASUO Executive Branch, Secretary of Engagement
Age: 19
School Year: Junior
Major/Minor: General social science major with a concentration in crime, law, and society, as well as a secondary education certificate
Kowalski currently serves as ASUO’s Secretary of Engagement, where he has helped plan several student events including the popular annual ASUO Street Faire. Kowalski shared with the Emerald that he hopes to become a high school teacher after graduating from UO.
Kowalski prides himself in the accomplishments of the current ASUO administration which helped to increase stipends for student organization leaders by lowering ASUO stipends as well as helping to collect over 3,000 signatures for an on-campus food pantry. Despite their progress Kowalski says he still sees room for improvement.
“It has been 12 years at the very least of students pushing for a food pantry on campus. It has not yet happened. It is insane,” Kowalski said. “I think ASUO absolutely has done a lot this year, [however] I wouldn’t be at this stage if I think it has done everything it needs to.”
If elected, Kowalski’s priorities are to continue pushing for an on campus food pantry, expand basic needs resources, engage more students via increased ASUO cabinet positions and increasing “instructor accountability” and training to provide a better academic experience for students.
Position Sought: ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Position: Senate Seat 4
Age: 19
School Year: Sophomore
Major/Minor: Bioengineering major with a minor in biochemistry
Soto Cuesta currently occupies ASUO Senate Seat 4, and currently serves as the finance director of UO MEChA and as an residential assistant for the Latinx Arc. Soto Cuesta emphasized her abilities to bring change to ASUO, saying her position as ASUO Senator has prepared her.
If elected, Soto Cuesta said she would raise people of color’s benchmarks and create a higher ASUO budget in order to fund the cultural organizations that serve UO students.
“I want to raise POC’s benchmarks. We need a higher budget in order to fund what is the heart of this university, the cultural orgs that serve us every single day,” Soto Cuesta said.
Our UO
Position Sought: ASUO President
Current ASUO Position Held: None
Age: 19
School Year: Sophomore
Major/Minor: Psychology major with minors in Arabic and legal studies
Hassan is a former captain of UO’s Mock Trial B Team, an event coordinator for the UO Muslim Student Association, and is an intern for the Federal Public Defender’s Office. Hassan decided to run for ASUO President after realizing the lack of equity and representation on UO’s campus.
“I decided to run this year for ASUO after realizing the amount of inequity and lack of representation that happens on this campus every single day to people that look like me,” Hassan said.
If elected, Hassan said she would ensure that both cultural and student organizations are accurately represented and that students have accessible food resources. Additionally, Hassan pledged to work on making campus more accessible and affordable for UO students.
Position Sought: ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Position Held: Academic Senate Seat 13
Age: 21
School Year: Junior
Major/Minor: Neuroscience major with minors in chemistry and computer science
Akpakwu occupies Seat 13 on ASUO’s Academic Senate. While participating in ASUO, Akpakwu said she became aware of how unengaged the student body is towards ASUO and the large amount of power ASUO holds. Akpakwu cited the lack of representation on campus as a key reason why she says ASUO has a grand amount of power and lacks the ability to provide students with its fullest resources.
“It wasn’t until I really immersed myself in ASUO when I came back full term when I realized just how much power we have and how unengaged the student body really is,” Akpakwu said. “The amount of power we have and the lack of resources that we’re fully able to provide for them.”
Akpakwu believes that UO students should be empowered to vote and to be part of ASUO in order to have agency over their student government. Akpakwu also believes that UO students should feel that ASUO is an accessible student government, since UO students pay I-Fees.
UO Student Power
Position Sought: ASUO President
Current ASUO Position: None
Age: 32
School Year: Continuing education
Major/Minor: Double major in sociology and PPPM (Planning, Public Policy, and Management)
Jensen currently serves as the co-director of the Radical Organizing and Activism Resource Center (ROAR). Jensen is also a co-founder of the UO Student Workers Union, the first major undergraduate student union in the country. Furthermore, Jensen has served in several roles supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, including as the events and finance coordinator for the LGBTQA3 Alliance, and is a former board chair of the UO Multicultural Center (MCC). Jensen previously ran for ASUO president in 2023, losing to current ASUO president Chloe Webster.
Jensen’s many goals for ASUO include bringing financial autonomy to cultural organizations at UO, raising student stipends. Jensen also wants to begin holding a policy forum which allows students to discuss and shape policy with ASUO to ensure students have a say in policy. Jensen described the current ASUO as a “top down model” leaving students with little say in the decision-making process.
Position Sought: ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Position: None
Age: 20
School Year: Sophomore
Major/Minor: Studying history, spatial data technology and religious studies
Similar to Jensen, Gullickson is also a co-director of the ROAR Center. They are also the Socialist Feminist Chair of the UO Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), and were heavily involved in restarting the UO chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine during fall term.
Gullickson shared concerns they deemed as a lack of publicity and knowledge around ASUO, and called out the current ASUO administration.
“ASUO pulled funds from cultural orgs [organizations] to put on a concert and deny labor senator positions in their office,” Gullickson said.
If elected, Gullickson said they will help “cultural affinity and activist organizations” to make “their voices heard” by ASUO.
How the candidates responded
The debate consisted of questions submitted to the Emerald by UO students and faculty, both from the in-person audience and over social media. Questions ranged from the topic of voter turnout to the “day one priorities” of each slate, all focusing on their individual goals. Below are some of the highlights:
What makes your platform stand out from the others? What would you say your biggest differences are?
Flock Forward:
Kowalski highlighted the importance of the student leaders on campus to represent the student body, hence the representation they say is found in Flock Forward’s slate. 10 students running on Flock Forward’s slate have been or are currently in ASUO, while 14 people have not.
“No one student represents every single area of campus, but it’s up to student leaders to represent the students across campus no matter who they are,” Kowalski said.
Kowalski also said that trust and change are the key reasons why students should vote for them on the ballot.
“What I will remind you is what’s on the ballot. You’re voting for the people in front of you,” Kowalski said. “It is about who you trust to be your student government and who you want to see make the change that you believe needs to happen.”
Soto Cuesta highlighted the importance of having “inside knowledge” of ASUO in order to make ASUO “more transparent.” Soto Cuesta said that she would make ASUO more transparent by having public comment opportunities, public records available regarding financial decisions and by having further representation during financial decisions for students.
“I agree there is change to be made. But there’s also a benefit from coming from the inside and knowing exactly what that change needs,” Soto Cuesta said.
Our UO:
Hassan highlighted how diverse OurUO’s slate is, which she said sets it apart from the other two slates. She said that members of the slate consist of individuals that are the heads of cultural organizations to individuals who are in a band.
“If you just take a second to look at OurUO. Look at our slate; It is filled with people all over campus. It is not a group of people that only represents one population,” Hassan said.
Hassan highlighted how students do not feel heard or encouraged by their student government since “there is no trust within ASUO.” She said OurUO will ensure that ASUO will become present amongst students by attending student events and meetings, ultimately to build trust.
Akpakwu highlighted the importance of serving students, since ASUO holds approximately $9 million in student I-Fees. According to Akpakwu, one distinction is that OurUO wants to work with the system to enact achievable change.
“These students do not owe us anything because we hold their money,” Akpakwu said. “We’re not going to promise you things that will take years and years past our administration that we cannot do.”
UO Student Power:
Jensen said that UO Student Power and UO Students have worked on changing systems on campus without having the institutional power that Flock Forward and Our UO has had.
“If you want to see people actually do things in student governments, don’t elect the people who have been perpetuating harms in the past,” Jensen said. “We’re the only ones that can show you results.”
Gullickson agreed with Jensen and highlighted how most of the UO Student Power slate is organized by student activists. Gullickson also highlighted how UO Student Power is different from the other two slates, saying it will use ASUO’s platform to support student organizations, and work to better labor rights, reproductive care, and disability justice.
“The thing is, ASUO has this platform that they refuse to use for actual student organizations and such,” Gullickson said. “We’ve done this before, we know how it works, and we want to actually change the system.”
What are your day one priorities?
Flock Forward:
Kowalski said that, as president, they will ensure all ASUO leaders are equipped with the tools they need in order to succeed and successfully impact UO student communities.
“Student leaders are not equipped with the tools they need to succeed and put in the implementation that the policies are all talking about,” Kowalski said.
Additionally, Kowalski highlighted continuing efforts to fund an on-campus basic needs center on the east side of UO campus, and an ASUO initiative to make laundry in UO’s residence halls free.
“This past year we have already been working on a new campus planning for East Campus and working with administration to find a spot directly for that,” Kowalski said. “So I’m trying to fund an on campus basic needs center that can actually make the impact for students today, right now.”
Our UO:
“I think it’s really clear what we would start with because that is the most pressing issue on this campus right now and that is representation,” Hassan said. “We need to build trust first before we battle any other object.”
Hassan said that as president she wants to attend different club meetings and major events to make students feel represented by ASUO.
“I want to show up, I want to be there for you, I want to see all the work you put into the money you asked from us [ASUO],” Hassan said, “It’s more than me writing you a check, I need to be there, I have to see what you’re doing.”
Hassan said her other first day priorities include working with the Oregon Food Pantry to further ensure accessibility of fresh, dietary and religious friendly food options offered, as well as finding other organizations to bolster the viability of the on-campus food pantry. Hassan’s final day one priority was to provide laundry access for all students. Hassan cited Hamilton Hall as the ideal location for the free laundry.
UO Student Power:
Jensen said that creating forum spaces where students can be a part of the development of ASUO policies is Jensen’s priority.
“Those policy forums could focus on some of our core issues again, which would be housing affordability,” Jensen said.
Jensen also said that UO students make up 1 in 6 adults in Eugene, which results in a grand amount of voting power. Additionally, Jensen also noted the importance to collaborate with student organizations and then initiate a place for UO students who are on work-study programs.
“We need to talk to the relevant student leaders about how to decentralize the student government in the allocation of funds for political works,” Jensen said. “So that the barriers that have been in place for those orgs are not disproportionately harming students of color, students with disabilities, [or] LGBT students on campus.”
Voter turnout is remarkably low. 6% of students participated in the winter special election. Why do each of you think this is an issue? As president, what would you do to improve student engagement in ASUO elections?
Flock Forward:
Kowalski argued that current ASUO campaign finance regulations — which cap campaign spending at $2,000 per slate — are harsh financial burdens for prospective candidates.
“I believe it’s proper use of I-Fee funding to be able to give funding to registered slates to allow them to conduct strong elections that fit within normal ASUO rules,” Kowalski said.
Kowalski argued that less campaign finance regulations would give a broader range of students the opportunity to run for ASUO offices, which in return would boost voter turnout among the student population.
Our UO:
Hassan highlighted the need for representation in student government in helping to increase voter turnout.
“We [Hassan and Akpakwu] realized there [is] not much you can do unless you have a slate that’s representative of the student body because at the end of the day, it’s gonna be the people who are going to reach other people,” Hassan said.
When building the OurUO slate, Hassan said she and Akpakwu avoided picking friends and associates with similar viewpoints. By organizing a diverse slate of students, many with little or no ASUO experience, Hassan said she expects voter turnout to be higher.
UO Student Power:
Jensen argued that the key to improving voter turnout was to remove and/or alter ASUO’s strict rules that prohibit candidates from speaking about or promoting their campaign until just days before the election begins. Jensen said that the current structure relies on “who knows who,” describing it as a “insular cronyism.”
“We need to… have the President announce months in advance with [a] resume [and] with their plans, so that students can go through and make a[n] informed decision about who they’re getting involved with,” Jensen said
Jensen further said that educating students on the power and workings of student government is imperative to boosting student engagement and ultimately higher voter turnout.
Voting for the ASUO elections is now open and will close at 9 a.m. on April 8. In the event of a runoff election, the polls will reopen from Wednesday, April 10 at 9 a.m. to Thursday April 11 at 9 a.m..
All students who have paid the I-Fee can vote here.
