SQUELCH! announced for the first time in its history a slate of entirely nonsatirical candidates for ASUC Senate Wednesday night.
The move signals a shift from the party’s tradition of running only one serious candidate. But this year’s nominees won’t shy away from the party’s roots in satire.
“(We aren’t forgetting) our treasured history of remembering to not take ourselves too seriously,” said Eric Raby, a SQUELCH! senior co-chair member, “a principle we’ve held since the party was founded in 250 C.E.”
Raby said the party decided to make the change after witnessing the inaction caused by unbending partisanship in the ASUC. The party hopes that its candidates, if elected, will be able to bridge the gap between the two major parties — Student Action and CalSERVE.
“We don’t have a party orthodox position on political issues,” said Julia Gettle, SQUELCH!’s finance and compliance director. “We’re about standing for rights regardless of party lines … (and keeping) parties from taking themselves too seriously to the point where their egos actually harm efforts to help students.”
This year’s candidates will be Mark Iskarous, Sarah Light, Emily Truax, Roxanne Rahnama, Grant Fineman, Natasha Chowdry and Sucheta Salgaonka. The nominees come from a wide range of backgrounds, with members of Berkeley Model United Nations, College Ski and Snowboard Club, the Undergraduate Marketing Association and the Iranian Students Cultural Organization included.
Current ASUC Senator Jason Bellet — the party’s lone executive nominee — is running for the position of president.
“We don’t represent one … group. I’m personally representing the clubs I’m in,” Truax said. “(SQUELCH!) is based on the groups we’re in and how we can help those groups. We’re more specific. (SQUELCH!) embodies the ideals of individual thought instead of party alignments.”
Still, the candidates share a dedication to fostering communication in student government, Truax said.
“We really want to try and challenge (the two-party system) so we can have more independent thinking and less party alignment,” Truax said. “There’s divisions (in the ASUC), and that’s not what student government should be. It should be individuals representing constituents.”
CalSERVE welcomed SQUELCH!’s serious senate slate, expressing appreciation for the party’s participation as a serious alternative to Student Action in a statement released Wednesday.
“SQUELCH! is running a serious slate because we’re ready to act on the problems we’ve highlighted with our satirical campaigns over the years,” Raby said. “SQUELCH! elected officials are unique in that they are adamant about admitting that because we are all students on this campus, because we all attend classes in these buildings and with deep respect for the huge number of differences that exist between us, we all have common ground.”
ASUC elections will be held on April 9, 10 and 11.
Ally Rondoni is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at [email protected].