Running for senate two years ago gave me the opportunity to represent my community. I ran to ensure that queer students had a voice in the ASUC Senate. I ran to give student groups access to the funding and resources that come along with having a strong advocate in the senate. I ran to solve problems within my community that I wanted to address, knowing I would do this regardless of whether I won but that the title “ASUC Senator” could open doors for my community and make my work a lot more effective and impactful.
In my time in senate, I seriously considered what the role of the ASUC was for the broader student body. I was motivated to run for ASUC President last spring because I saw problems on our campus and in my community. I saw the rising price of tuition, textbooks and housing. I saw the school I love struggle through a number of campus climate issues. But I saw something else that both aggravated and inspired me — I saw the failure of recent ASUC officials to use our collective power to solve problems that students face every day.
I still believe that we have yet to reach our potential. The executives with whom I served were content to throw dance parties on Memorial Glade and hold press conferences that never translated into action.These events contribute to our Cal experience, but they can’t be all that the ASUC does. This year, I was disappointed with our president’s leadership when he apparently chose to negotiate with UC Office of the President to build a new gym on Fraternity Row instead of using his influence as ASUC president to fight UCOP’s proposed Student Health Insurance (SHIP) fee increases. The ASUC is not here to rubber-stamp administrative policy decisions, but instead to be critical and ensure that administrators have students’ best interests in mind.
To me, the ASUC can be so much more. When we know that the campus’ sexual assault policy is largely dismissive of the experiences of sexual assault survivors, the ASUC should be working with the Center for Student Conduct to change this. When we see a campus that is no longer financially accessible to middle and working-class students, the ASUC should be mobilizing students to fight for expanded financial aid and lower tuition costs. When we see a campus whose employment policies don’t reflect the real needs of student employees and don’t afford respect and dignity to career employees, the ASUC has an obligation to fight for new policies. This is my vision for the ASUC, the reason I ran with CalSERVE and why I continue to support this year’s CalSERVE executive candidates. Together, we can make the ASUC activate our power and advance what students need to be successful.
Currently, students do this work without the power of the ASUC. However, how much more powerful is it when the ASUC can use its resources, voice and administrative clout to further the student cause? We know from experience that administrators take us seriously when we take ourselves seriously. When the ASUC voted last year to divest $3.5 million from Bank of America, the campus CFO immediately acted to facilitate a smooth transition to corporate responsibility. The chancellor stood with ASUC senators in Sacramento last year to lobby for the DREAM Act and to overturn Proposition 209. The ASUC is a vehicle through which students can address the most pressing issues on campus, in our city and throughout the state, if we would only hold ASUC officials accountable to using their full potential.
Andrew Albright is a former ASUC senator with the CalSERVE party.
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