THE HIGHLANDER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
VOL. 68, ISSUE 29
est. 1954
FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2020
table of contents page 2 Presidential Candidates, Executive Cabinet Candidates and Extended Cabinet Candidates
page 3 Extended Cabinet Candidates and CHASS Senators
page 4 CHASS Senators
page 5 CHASS Senators and CNAS Senators
page 6 CNAS Senators and BCOE Senators
page 7 SPP Senators and GSOE Senators
ASUCR’s student elections are coming up, giving students the opportunity to elect their representatives for the 2020-2021 school year. In this guide created by The Highlander, readers can discover who is running in this year’s elections as well as their platforms. Voting will take place from April 27 to May 1. Due to the campus closure and the COVID-19 pandemic, all voting will take place online.
2020 e l e c t i o n S
GUIDE up ahead
vote from April 27 to may 1
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Editor’s Note: All candidate platforms and photos were given to The Highlander directly from candidates. If a candidate did not provide The Highlander with a photo or platform, information was taken from the ASUCR Elections website. If a candidate’s photo or platform were also not available via the ASUCR Elections website, The Highlander did not include the candidate in this Elections Guide. Candidates’ platforms are shortened for clarity, consistency and space.
EXECUTIVE CABINET CANDIDATES
president Kircee Killian
LUIS HUERTA Luis Huerta’s main goals if elected president are to tackle the issue of affordability, advocate for favorable policies and better the internal structure of ASUCR. Working with ECAB, he will use his position to prioritize and steer the cabinet into meeting these goals by creating resolutions, scheduling meetings with campus administration and committing to more internal integration. He believes ASUCR should consistently provide updates, survey, and interact with the student-body on a weekly basis. The relationship should uphold communication and care. This can be achieved by working with internal ASUCR leadership and instilling a culture of constant service.
Kircee Killian is taking a different approach to her campaign by promising nothing. She believes that elected officials get hung up on their promises and agenda but forget about those who truly matter at UCR. Killian hopes to bring a new era of student government on campus where elected officials are advocating for the students and pursuing agendas that improve the quality of life for every student.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Natalie Hernandez As Executive Vice President (EVP) Natalie Hernandez wants to to establish an ASUCR EVP Instagram where students can view biweekly and monthly senator and EVP reports. She wants to create town halls to provide students with more outlets for information sharing and to allow students to voice their concerns to their representatives. Hernandez wishes to increase transparency and accountability within ASUCR. Hernandez stated that as EVP, she will be in contact with every director from Costo Hall and wants to ensure that senators are also meeting with their representatives.
Yoseline Gutierrez Yoseline Gutierrez did not respond to The Highlander’s requests for a candidate platform. A platform is also not provided on the ASUCR Elections website.
Angelica Rose Garcia Vp of Internal Affairs
If elected as Vice President of Internal Affairs, Angelica Rose Garcia will work on an initiative to open Orbach Library for 24 hours for one week during midterms and the preceding weekend of finals week. She also intends to educate students and staff on gender-inclusivity, and emphasize the wellness of one’s physical and mental health.
Jeffrey Tran
Vp of Internal Affairs Jeffrey Tran is most concerned about the lack of resources provided for students to succeed. His platform is focused to provide more essential resources, such as technology, aid to fight against food insecurity and support for mental health resources. Tran intends to host town hall events to communicate with students and respond to their concerns. Tran wishes to build strong relationships with organizations represented in Costo Hall and lend a helping hand to individuals within Costo Hall by drafting legislation that fights for more funding.
Nelson Huerta
Vp of Internal Affairs Nelson Huerta believes the most pressing issue that students face is the lack of diversity in who is allowed into certain spaces. Huerta plans to ensure all applicants for ASUCR committees have equitable opportunities. As Vice President of Internal Affairs, Huerta wishes to enforce that ASUCR members address complaints from students in an appropriate manner. Huerta would like to create events that will better student professional skills and serve as a network to get to know ASUCR members. He hopes to make ASUCR as diverse and accessible as possible for everyone.
William Wang Vp of Finance
As the Vice President of Finance, William Wang hopes to increase the transparency within the finance committee and further better the meeting environment for the finance hearings.
Extended Cabinet CANDIDATES Ian Chew
Marketing and Promotions Director As the Marketing and Promotions Director, Ian Chew wants to be a voice for truth and highlight important topics through his work, such as the breakdown of tuition, the deserved recognition of Costo Hall programs and an avid, open communication between the senate and students on social media platforms. As a candidate for ASUCR Marketing and Promotions, Chew views himself as a representative for the student body. In his opinion, ASUCR is not a means of strictly projecting one’s personal narrative, it requires one to be empathetic and proactive in the community of the student body to execute agendas that will benefit the UCR community. He will run his position with integrity and compassion for the thousands of students who are counting on ASUCR. His goal as Marketing and Promotions Director is to fully utilize the large platform of ASUCR and its social media presence to work directly with students and eventually establish a trust between ASUCR and students. One of his primary projects is to utilize ASUCR’s social media outlets to fully encapsulate what UCR is made up of. He strives to give exposure to the organizations within Costo Hall and others to empower the student body.
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Extended Cabinet CANDIDATEs (cont.) Sean Nguyen
Personnel Director Sean Nguyen believes there is an information gap between students and what is happening in the campus around them. He would like to provide and strive for accessible information from ASUCR to the entire student body. He would like to require that office hours be in different places on campus, such as the Costo Hall student programs, and utilize more media outlets that students can follow to receive updates from the association. As Personnel Director, Nguyen plans to introduce the “ASUCR Town Hall Act” which will require all senators to hold individual college-based town halls, to listen to the issues facing their constituents.
Mark Hanin
Personnel Director Mark Hanin believes that the most pressing issue that students at UCR face is high tuition costs. He is calling for direct email notifications to be sent to all students detailing the resources that their tuition accounts for as a major part of his campaign platform. As Personnel Director, Hanin hopes to pass measurements which mandate that all ASUCR officials publish a monthly report detailing their contributions to the student body to provide transparency. He also plans to create the ASUCR Costo Hall Resource Centers Committee to work with the directors of all the resource centers and listen to their concerns.
Ky Nguyen
Personnel Director Ky Nguyen’s platform is knowledge, power and opportunity. As a first-generation college student from a low-income background, Nguyen is aware of the disparities that many students face on campus. His goal as Personnel Director is to open new doors that encompass both collaboration and opportunities to further push for student activism and engagement at UCR. He hopes to establish a stronger platform in ASUCR and actively advocate for student concerns.
Megan McDaniel
Personnel Director Megan McDaniel wants to increase involvement of the STEM communities on campus with ASUCR activities, a community that she believes is underrepresented in campus leadership. She also wants to increase ASUCR’s involvement with first-year students by hosting events near residential communities.
Vanessa Gomez Alvarado
Undergraduate Sustainability Director Vanessa Gomez Alvarado’s platform is about empowering sustainable change. She is passionate about the environment and believes in creating a better tomorrow for everyone. Her campaign focuses on bringing on sustainable change through education, empowerment, and enforcement of sustainable practices at UCR. Previously, she has assisted in the development of GCAP’s Sustainability Fair, Alternative Transportation Giveaway, and with UCR’s Zero Waste Plan. Her goal is to lead UCR into becoming the UC’s top university for exemplary sustainability practices that have a positive impact on the entire UCR community.
CHASS SENATORS Alyssa Marchan As a student-parent, Alyssa Marchan hopes to implement change for student-parents at UCR as well as other marginalized groups on campus that identify as non-traditional. She intends to work with these communities by creating meetings with certain organizations, sending mass emails, attending lecture halls, gaining support by talking with staff and gaining statistics and background stories to take to her fellow senators. As a senator, Marchan hopes to reintroduce the Equal Opportunities Referendum which was shut down by administration. The referendum would have been allocated to R’kids, Underground Scholars, Student Veterans, and Foster Youth student representatives. Marchan hopes to provide a space for nontraditional students who genuinely want to make a difference.
Brendan Rooks Brendan Rooks is an advocate for international students. Brendan stated that he has represented the student voice through his involvement on various campus committees such as the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Committee for a Thriving Campus Community, providing him a platform to collaborate with campus leadership. If given the chance to represent the student body at ASUCR, Rooks promises to serve as a steadfast and transparent ally for all students.
Christopher Kent Christopher Kent believes that the biggest problems students on campus face is transportation and parking. He hopes to advocate for transportation and parking issues. He hopes to work with RTA to provide faster and more accessible routes for students from all areas to use public transportation. If elected, he will hold a quarterly town hall. As senator, he would make sure to visit all Costo Hall centers.
Elisabeth Sampson As a CHASS senator, Elisabeth Samspon would like to focus on transfer and commuter students. She hopes to reach out to transfer and commuter students to hear their concerns. Sampson believes that ASUCR should focus on student issues and concerns. Sampson told The Highlander that she is not aware of the Costo Hall programs. She stated that she would like to keep them in the loop of any decisions that might affect them or the students that they represent. She told The Highlander that she thinks the only way that they could be a part of the governing process is if someone that also represented Costo Hall ran for an office. She hopes to create events between Costo Hall and ASUCR.
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CHASS SENATORS (COnt.) Gabe Pineda Gabe Pineda’s “Strive for Equity” campaign’s platforms are : diversity, student retention and basic needs. Pineda believes that the appropriate relationship between ASUCR and the student body needs to be reformed and transformed into the exact opposite of what it is now. Pineda wants to specifically include students of color, Black students, queer and transgender students, transfers, non-traditional students, first-generation students and any other histroically margnialized community within the conversations around student advocacy and making UCR a more safe and inclusive school. Pineda hopes to increase the communication with Costo Hall by involving themself in each of the individual communities through attending and promoting community events, holding bi-quarterly office hours directly in the offices and collaborating with the student leaders and student organizations.
David An The most pressing issues that David An sees at UCR are student government participation along with student activism. An has written a bill that decreases qualifications to become a democratic representative for the student body. He believes this will allow for even broader sentiments of students and a more diverse representative body. An believes that a successful relationship between the student government and the students relies on transparency. He feels that ASUCR should directly represent the needs, wants and opinions of the students with no underlying bias. An plans to speak with Costo Hall programs about necessary resources to help students.
Jonathan Escobar As a CHASS senator, Jonathan Escobar intends to meet with CHASS students frequently through office hours, conducting polls or surveys and using social media to create a more direct channel of communication. Escobar believes that as a student representative, he should advocate for all students, not just CHASS students. Escobar plans to draft legislation or amend the bylaws to require that all senators attend events hosted by Costo Hall programs that they are assigned to and to host town hall events with Costo Hall programs.
Sebastian Quinteros Sebastian Quinteros believes that one of the biggest issues at UCR is its inability to provide adequate housing, food, safety, and mental or physical health resources to students and his focus as senator is to remedy these issues. He also hopes to enforce accountability and transparency within ASUCR to gain back student trust. Quinteros would like to make ASUCR information more readily available to students. Quinteros stated that any legislation he plans to work on will have Costo Hall involved.
Juan Morales Juan Morales’ platform focuses on non-traditional, first generation, commuter and transfer students. Morales would like to connect with these students by meeting with organization leaders such as R’Kids, Costo Hall professional staff, and work with the office of internal affairs to host events that bring students together. Morales wants all senators to advocate for their colleges openly. He also will be an ally to all colleges and their needs. Morales wants to include Costo Hall directly in the events he hosts and always ask for consent if he ever uses them in legislation matters.
Lizbeth Marquez Torres Lizbeth Marquez Torres hopes to voice the concerns of undocumented students in order to maintain a comfortable learning and social environment. She hopes to work closely with Undocumented Student Programs to ensure that any issues pertaining specifically to undocumented students are addressed by our senate and keep in constant communication throughout the academic year. She also hopes to work with SCAIP to ensure that students are being treated fairly during the student conduct process and there is no abuse of power perpetrated on any student. Marquez also wants to be a voice for LGBTQ+ students and CSP.
Luis Velazco Miranda As a CHASS senator, Luis Velazco Miranda wants to voice the need of the students to the institution and fight for better resources, end food insecurity on campus and for inclusivity in the decision making of UCR.
Melanie Grigorian As a CHASS senator, Melanie Grigorian is committed to fixing parking issues on campus. Grigorian hopes to work with the TAPS Advisory Committee to push for more affordable and attainable parking permits at UCR and the investment of parking structure expansion. She will promote and encourage an open communication between ASUCR and the student body, while also creating a more accessible platform in which the student body can get involved and have their voice heard. Grigorian would also like to create a committee which helps foster collaboration between ASUCR members and representatives from Costo Hall.
MufiFIda Assaf One of Mufida Assaf’s main goals as a CHASS senator is to prioritize supporting the Ethnic and Gender Program Offices. She also plans to represent students on campuswide committees like the TAPS Advisory Committee and the Long Range Development Plans as she believes they directly impact the UCR student experience. She also hopes to enhance the student experience and empower others to collaboratively create positive change at UCR.
Nelson Aguiar If elected as CHASS senator, Nelson Aguiar plans to reach out to clubs and organizations around campus and offer to promote their clubs with the help of ASUCR and the Marketing Committee. Aguiar hopes to inform students about what happens within ASUCR by making sure ASUCR lets students know where they can find documented information and shed more light on where ASUCR fees are going. Aguiar also hopes to improve campus safety by reaching out to action and awareness groups. As a senator, Aguiar also plans to reach out to service groups on campus to encourage volunteer work in Riverside.
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CHASS SENATORS (COnt.) Orlando Cabalo Orlando Cabalo’s current platform is to: crush governmental self-service, expand basic needs initiatives and build student activism. He plans to actively attempt to combat these issues by pushing legislation that eliminates self-service in office and by using ASUCR funds for basic needs. Cabalo believes in creating transparency and anti-corruption legislation that act as watchdogs against governmental self-service. He hopes to represent individuals needing food and textbooks, student-workers demanding labor rights and the underrepresented people of UCR. Cabalo intends to bring Costo Hall into the governing process. He also wants to empower the Diversity Council to take a more active role in the office.
Rosemary Le As a senator, Rosemary Le hopes to spread a larger network across the whole campus. She wants organizations to be driven with integrity and to be welcoming to any student, no matter their major. She wants to communicate with administration about costly student expenses to help lower costs as much as possible. She also wants to hold more events that are open to all students and the Riverside community so that they can voice their concerns with elected officials easily and guide them to success as Highlanders.
Sarah Dhaou As a CHASS senator, Sarah Dhou hopes to create a safe and pleasant space where students can spread awareness of mental health and have the resources to feel comfortable seeking help. Dhou plans to work hand-in-hand with students to ensure that they are seen and fairly represented.
CNAS SENATORS Aya Serhan Aya Serhan believes one of the greatest issues CNAS students face is overpriced mandatory course materials such as lab coats, lab notebooks, clickers and textbooks. She plans on reaching out to students to get more opinions and suggestions surrounding this issue and hopes to implement ways to minimize these costs. Serhan stated that she has heard student concerns about ASUCR seeming more like a self-serving institution. As a senator, Serhan states she will take in all opinions and suggestions from campus resource centers on how to approach issues they feel are particularly concerning and cooperate with them to identify what she can do to help.
Dominique Villasenor Apart from being a CNAS major, Dominique Villasenor is also a community college transfer. She believes the most pressing issue for transfer students is the inability to find the resources they need to succeed in their classes. These struggles include registering for available classes, finding research opportunities and housing. She plans to provide workshops for transfer students throughout the year to help them combat these issues. If she is elected senator, she will continue her involvement with Costo Hall and encourage them to attend senate meetings and engage with their ASUCR leaders.
Gustavo Espitia Gustavo Espitia believes the most pressing issues UCR students face is unawareness of opportunities and lack of advocating for the interest of students. He intends to take action on hardships such as financial instability by making resources more accessible to students, urging for the creation of paid opportunities and more funding to R’ Pantry. He hopes to represent all students and as a senator, he will work with organizations in Costo Hall to make student life found at UCR more interactive.
Lina Nguy Lina Nguy’s campaign runs on accountability, engagement and innovation. She hopes to make changes to the current Learning Community programs and implement more student involvement and engagement so they can find a place fits their interests. Her goal is to bridge the gap between CNAS students and different student organizations to advocate for their personal interests and aspirations. She will represent first-generation, first-year and transfer students because she believes they have the hardest time transitioning to a four-year public university.
Sandra Do With her platform, Sandra Do hopes to accommodate CNAS issues such as overcrowded classes by listening to students and their concerns. She hopes to implement a student mailbox where she will work to respond to student questions. Do believes that the student body should never feel helpless before the government that was selected to serve them. She will encourage more people to go to senate meetings at least once every quarter. She will reach out to the transfer students community because she understands the difficulties they face adapting to a four-year university. As senator, she vows to provide honesty, patience and dedication.
Ridwan Syed As senator, Ridwan Syed will listen to students’ concerns to ensure they get the most out of their college experience. He hopes to tackle students’ issues such as class scheduling, student expenditures and issues with learning communities. He hopes to make ASUCR more transparent in all aspects. He will reach out to students outside of his college and make a positive difference in both CNAS and UCR. As a senator, Syed will reach out to Costo Hall to address their concerns and keep them as involved as possible when important decisions are being made.
Barry Liu Barry Liu believes that the biggest issue CNAS students face is the high amounts of stress that come from homework and difficult classes. To remedy this issue, Liu strives to eliminate unnecessary stress that comes with the struggles of finding parking before classes, food insecurity, financial instability, expensive textbooks and more. To increase trust and dependability between ASUCR and students, Liu aims to improve the transparency of ASUCR to the students, mainly through social media. Liu also plans to emphasize the resources given by Costo Hall and will strongly advocate and encourage more students to use Costo Hall as a primary resource.
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CNAS SENATORS (CONT.) Abigail Nguyen Abigail Nguyen’s platform is to be the change. As a first-generation Asian American and as a commuter, she understands the need for inclusivity and wants to be a part of the group that celebrates intersectionality. If she is elected, she strives to implement student voices into the activities that ASUCR holds and write legislation that will change students’ lives positively. She strives to provide resources and programs that will help communities thrive.
Akanksha Sancheti Akanksha Sancheti’s platform is transparent, energetic and perseverent. As a senator, she promises to be honest and strives to be a voice to make UCR a more inclusive and fair community that will support all students after they graduate.
Gabriel Johnson Gabriel Johnson’s platform is community, conscientiousness and opportunity. In his previous experience as a senate intern, Johnson has learned from incumbent senators and has developed a passion for operating as a member of the student government responsible for representing the diverse interests and perspectives of UCR’s student body. He is motivated to continue pursuing policies that foster growth and access to rewarding opportunities. If elected, Johnson strives to enhance communication between ASUCR and the student body.
Lama Yassine Lama Yassine’s platform is advocacy, movement and commitment. As a senator, she hopes to advocate for the desires of students. She wants to make sure that students are getting what they pay for and hopes to tackle issues such as class availability to accomodate for impacted majors to make it easier to reach academic advisors and have hands-on student peer mentors. She wants to make sure CNAS students are able to get the most out of their resources.
Manasi Ponamala Manasi Ponamala’s platform is inclusiveness, energy and fairness. She believes that everyone’s voices should be heard in student government and as a senator, she wants to represent student voices as accurately as possible. She hopes to dedicate her time into bettering the college experience for students.
Tam Dao Tam Dao did not respond to The Highlander’s requests for a candidate platform. A platform is also not provided on the ASUCR Elections website.
BCOE SENATORS Leonardo Ballesteros Leonardo Ballesteros’ platform is honesty, empathy and positivity. Ballesteros is an active member of professional, cultural and environmental organizations on campus. As a senator, he intends to expand on UCR’s sense of community, its sustainability efforts and its trust in student government. He promises to listen and make decisions on behalf of those he is representing.
Connley Neufeld Conley Neufeld’s platform is transparency, involvement and commitment. As a senator, he hopes to increase student involvement in ASUCR.
Natalie Campos Natalie Campos’ platform is engineering the future. As a female in a male dominated sphere of academia, she has learned the value of taking space and being a woman in the engineering world. As a senator, she will address the struggles BCOE students face and hopes to encourage more women to be successful leaders in STEM. She also hopes to be an advocate for all students and will work to provide them with opportunities, resources and positive change.
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spp SENATORS Ana SoFIa Valdez As a SPP senator, Ana Sofia Valdez hopes to help SPP students with registration issues. Public Policy students are an interdisciplinary major but do not get reserved seating for classes. She also wants to fix issues with SPP advising. Valdez plans on connecting with students by conducting surveys, working with the student voice committee and promoting when she will be meeting with the SPP dean in advance so students have the opportunity to voice their opinions, questions or concerns. As a senator, she would make it her responsibility to keep a good relationship with Costo Hall.
Nava Majlesi Nava Majlesi believes the biggest issue facing the SPP is that its graduation rate is significantly lower than UCR’s overall graduation rate. She hopes to work with the Office of External Affairs to increase opportunities for outreach and community service in the Inland Empire by creating internship positions in the Office of External Affairs. Majlesi wishes to create a student survey that pertains to the specific needs and potential concerns of ASUCR and then create a commission composed of ASUCR officials that will analyze the survey and offer recommendations. Majlesi intends to reach out to underrepresented populations at UCR to make sure their voices are heard.
Zara Ali Zara Ali intends to to work with the academic senate and the dean of SPP to make sure students have access to reserved classes and to create a learning community in SPP. She hopes to be transparent regarding her projects and voicing her opinions about resolutions and legislation and work with the South Asian Federation and Muslim Student Association on legislation. She will advocate for Costo Hall, R’kids, R’pantry and the Riverside Free Clinic and ensure that that the $29.7 million that UCR received from the federal government in the CARES stimulus package are used to compensate affected students and staff accordingly.
GSOE SENATORS Alessandro De La Cruz Alessandro De La Cruz hopes to amplify the stories and successes of the students and programs in GSOE. She affirms that she will be authentic in relating to each student, serving their interests and being their advocate.
Esmerelda Santos Esmerelda Santos intends to create a mentorship program between undergraduate and graduate students from GSOE. Santos believes ASUCR funds should go more toward grants for the R’Pantry instead of giveaways and raffles. She plans to connect with first-generation students by expanding the R’Pantry. She believes ASUCR should work to survey students and listen to their concerns. She believes they should do this by reaching out to Costo Hall.
Stephanie Zeng With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting many students, Stephanie Zeng wants to work to alleviate student stress and anxiety by making education more equitable and accommodating. Zeng intends to be in contact with the peers of the GSOE by working with the Dean to get a sample size that is representative of GSOE population She hopes to do quarterly check ins at the beginning and end of quarters by sending a campuswide email with a link to a Google Form. She hopes to implement meaningful incentives that would benefit students such as Amazon gift cards to buy textbooks or a gift card to the grocery store.
HOW TO VOTE • • • • • • •
Students will receive a link to a personalized ballot in their R’Mail. Click on the link and log in with your UCR credentials. Students will receive their ballot link once on Monday, April 27 at 9 a.m. The links are personalized to each individual student so the link cannot be shared with anyone. The link will be open every day of elections week from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. The ballot must be completed in one sitting. The link will expire the same day a student opens it. The yellow arrow button at the bottom of the screen will automatically save your answers. Students cannot go back to previous questions after clicking the yellow button. • Each day, the first 100 voters will receive gift cards to various food establishments. • Students who vote are automatically entered into a prize drawing which includes: AirPod pros, Apple pencils, iPads and PC computers.
Voting week: april 27 to may 1