Emily McLain and Chii-San SunOwen edged out Sara Hamilton and Athan Papailiou in the race for ASUO Executive by just 145 votes.
“I’m absolutely excited,” McLain said on Friday. “I congratulate our opponents on a great race.”
McLain said her first priority is to begin organizing and planning how she will hire a new staff. She said she and SunOwen will go to all the groups they visited during the campaign to thank them for their support and ask what they want the new executive to do.
“Now we need to get down to business,” McLain said.
Outgoing ASUO President Jared Axelrod said he has begun preparing how he will help McLain transition into the job by assembling a notebook for her and discussing how to hire a staff.
Axelrod said his transition into office was not the easiest, so he wants to help McLain in “any way I can.”
The hiring process will be open to all students, and when it comes time to find a staff, McLain will place ads in the Emerald and send out e-mails to student programs, she said.
McLain said she wants to hire an environmental advocate who will focus on making sustainable practices a reality on campus. She said University President Dave Frohnmayer has shown a commitment to reducing carbon emissions and she hopes her administration can continue to work on those issues.
With the exception of Senate Seat 17, which independent candidate Kevin Parks won outright because he received more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary election, every other seat was won by a candidate from Hamilton’s Campaign for Change.
“We are really happy that students were receptive to our Campaign for Change and are extremely proud that all of our candidates were successfully elected,” Hamilton said.
McLain said her campaign’s efforts to talk to average students and focus on issues important to them likely led to her win.
“I think we combated what we saw as a slate meant to elect an executive,” she said. “We went out there and ran a very strong campaign, just like they did. I think both sides ran an amazing campaign.”
She said she wanted to run for executive because she enjoys interacting with different communities and feels a need to speak up to correct injustices and problems when she sees them.
“If I’ve learned anything, I know that I want to commit a significant portion of my life to public service,” McLain said. “I’ve not found anything else that gets me excited.”
Axelrod said McLain is very knowledgeable about the ASUO, especially having worked there for only one year. He said her communication skills – McLain is a member of the University debate team – are her best asset.
When the election results were released Friday, members of other slates, including the Campaign for Change, said they expected McLain would work well with the winners. Jacob Daniels, campaign manager for the Hamilton ticket, said McLain has the ability to “build bridges.”
Hamilton said she and Papailiou are “very happy” for McLain and SunOwen.
“They did a great job with their campaign and we wish them the best of luck,” Hamilton said. “We look forward to working with them next year to make necessary changes for the good of all students.”
McLain said she is excited to work with the representatives from Campaign for Change because they put a “wide-ranging” set of opinions in the ASUO.
“We’re going to work with everybody and really start building back whatever might have been contentious during the election,” McLain said. “There are a lot of great people who got elected. I think we’ll talk about the future. We’ll start looking forward and not looking back.” Throughout the campaign, McLain and SunOwen discussed the need for an executive that would reach out to student programs and educate all students on the ASUO process, from meeting procedures to how the budget process works.
She said she and SunOwen would like to begin educating students on the process as soon as they take office. She suggested hosting a town hall meeting for students who are interested in learning about the process, but said she will go to student programs and present the information in whatever way the groups want it.
“We’re public servants,” she said. “It’s our job to go to the people we represent. It’s our job to work within their schedules. Students are busy and they set specific time aside for their meetings.”
McLain said she wants to work closely with student programs to make sure they are notified of meetings at which issues such as budget benchmarks are going to be discussed so program members can voice their opinions and be involved in the process from the start.
Groups have reached out to let the ASUO know they feel alienated, McLain said. She said she wants to start a conversation so all students and student programs understand the process and become better advocates for themselves, but she also wants groups to understand she is an advocate for them.
SunOwen was away at a conference this weekend and was unavailable for comment by press time.
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