It has only been five days since the ASUC results were announced, but many newly elected members of the ASUC say they are already looking forward to their first steps in office.
DeeJay Pepito, president-elect from CalSERVE, said her first move will be to continue working to improve campus safety, especially with regard to sexual assault, considering that the ASUC Senate recently passed a bill expressing no confidence in the university’s sexual assault policies.
Pepito said she has already met with with her co-authors on the bill, SB 130, to talk about creating more resources for victims of sexual assault and clarify the reporting process, among other policy changes.
Another big issue Pepito must grapple with as president is that of the campus climate in light of the recent senate vote to divest from companies affiliated with the Israeli military. Grant Fineman, a recently elected senator from SQUELCH!, said the vote “disheartened” many within the Jewish community.
“There’s definitely some rebuilding to be done, especially because some people are not confident about the ASUC,” Fineman said.
As part of this rebuilding process, Pepito said she intends to establish a campus climate department within the ASUC to address these issues and create opportunities for disparate communities to collaborate with one another.
“Regardless of what ‘side’ students might identify with, there were people hurt, and there were people impacted on both sides of the issue,” Pepito said. “We want to stay away from framing this as a one-sided issue. This bill (SB 160) really highlights that there are still problems on our campus. We all need to take responsibility and accountability by taking responsibility for our actions and acknowledging that our words hurt others.”
Pepito will start shadowing current ASUC President Connor Landgraf in the coming weeks.
Executive Vice President-elect Nolan Pack of CalSERVE emphasized that he aims to work closely with the new senatorial class and will meet with senators individually before the end of the semester to build constructive relationships.
“For the past few years, the power dynamic has been such that executives believe they do not have to act at the direction of the senate, and the senate has been reluctant to exercise its power as the final legislative and administrative authority of the ASUC,” Pack said in an email. “Instead, the senate has assigned itself an unreasonable amount of administrative tasks. This has made the senate a structurally inefficient body.”
Pack said he hopes the senate will feel more comfortable in assigning more tasks to the executive slate, which will allow senators more time to work on platforms and community projects.
Valerie Jameson of CalSERVE and Safeena Mecklai of Student Action, academic affairs and external affairs vice presidential-elects respectively, echoed Pack’s sentiments. Both said they look forward to reaching out to the new senators. In the past, Jameson said she has seen a “strong disconnect” between the executive officers and senators.
“It’s twofold,” Jameson said. ”The senators have to keep the executives accountable, and the executives have to be out there and to help them in their ideas.” Along with reaching out to senators, Jameson said she will continue working on her textbook scholarship program.
Although Mecklai was the only Student Action candidate elected to executive office, neither she nor any of the other newly elected executive officials expressed concern over partisanship.
“The four of us want to do what’s best for the student body and are going to work well together,” Mecklai said. “I am not looking to the future as concern but as a challenge. There are a lot of external issues and so much to be done.”
Contact Sophie Ho at [email protected].