CalSERVE announced Sunday night that ASUC Senator DeeJay Pepito will be its presidential nominee in this spring’s ASUC election.
Pepito is running on a platform of improving campus safety, forging connections between universities and increasing the accessibility of campus administrators.
Pepito, a junior and social welfare major, has been involved with the ASUC for three years, during which time she worked to reform ASUC bylaws with CalSERVE executive vice president nominee and Senator Nolan Pack.
Pepito said she was especially proud to have sponsored a bill last December to preserve the memory of Grace Asuncion, a student killed 20 years ago in Eshleman Hall. The bill recognized safety measures, such as the UCPD Emergency Blue Light phones, that the aftermath of Asuncion’s death brought to campus.
If elected, Pepito said she plans to forge connections between UC Berkeley and other public school campuses. She said she wants to create an annual summit of student leaders from UC and CSU campuses and community colleges to discuss issues related to higher education.
“I want to bridge the gap between all three systems (UC, CSU and community colleges) and really help the student voice to be empowered and … make public education a priority for our state,” Pepito said. “We can send a message to everyone about how public higher education and quality higher education … is very much important to future generations coming into college.”
Additionally, Pepito plans to address accessibility to campus administrators, the chancellor in particular.
“I think it’s ridiculous you have to have a title attached to your name to be able to access senior administrators,” she said. “I think by having student forums and giving students an avenue to ask questions themselves, to represent themselves and advocate for themselves, is doing justice to student empowerment.”
Pepito said she hopes to have the chancellor hold a “State of the University” address each semester.
“(Having experienced) the lack of (the chancellor’s) presence in different spaces — especially within the ASUC — I think it’s important we set a new precedent for the chancellor coming in to be accessible and transparent to students,” Pepito said.
The chancellor currently holds an annual back-to-school briefing open to the press in which he, along with other campus administrators, discusses the state of the university.
Pepito also plans to establish a Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues to address increases in sexual assault and violent crime on campus.
“We see the number of reported (sexual assault) cases increasing, but the resources we have for sexual assault survivors and the reporting system we have doesn’t do service and justice to our students,” Pepito said. “The task force I want to create will be composed of administrators and different UCPD to really reassess how we’re serving sexual assault survivors.”
In addition to her experience as an ASUC senator, Pepito was the external relations coordinator for Pilipino Academic Student Services, a recruitment and retention organization within the bridges Multicultural Resource Center on campus.
“When you understand … the experiences that students are coming from before they get to Cal, that really shapes and creates a vision for what the ASUC and campus should be (like) to foster better student life on campus,” Pepito said.
CalSERVE, which represents underrepresented groups on campus, has not had a candidate elected president since 2008.
“DeeJay is the most qualified person in our party and the senate,” said CalSERVE Elections Coordinator Anais Lavoie. “She can navigate the administration to make it work for the students. She was the point person in the Lower Sproul (project), and she was the in-between for students and administration to make sure the (remodel) is what (students) want.”
Ally Rondoni is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at [email protected].