Candidates Voice Student Concerns

With another round of student fee increases and budget cuts closing in this summer, promises to fight student fee hikes are atop the list of priorities for the four candidates for ASUC external affairs vice president.

A liaison between UC Berkeley students and local and state governments, the external affairs vice president has lobbied on housing and student fee bills, along with organizing demonstrations and meeting with top state legislators.

Liz Hall sees the office of external affairs as an opportunity to extend lobbying opportunities to all students-even those traditionally ignored by most lobbying groups.

"Political science students are not the only people who should be involved with lobbying," she said. "When we get more engaged, we are building a more informed citizenship."

As this year's ASUC Lobby Corps director, Hall has shuttled students to Sacramento to lobby legislators on issues ranging from student fee hikes to queer advocacy. Through that position, she said she has gained an intimate knowledge of the realities of the job.

Although student fee increases concern Hall, she is even more disturbed by the reduction of financial aid.

"What kind of statement are we making in terms of a commitment to access to education?" she said. "We are discouraging students to get an education."

Hall will also focus on the lack of affordable housing near campus, which she says has forced students to live outside Berkeley.

"There's no reason we should be asking a first-year student to pay $900 each month to share a room," she said.

Pammy O'Leary admits that she does not have administrative experience, but thinks her time as a resident assistant make her qualified for the position.

An out-of-state student from Florida, student fee increases have hit O'Leary especially hard and that personal experience has made fee hikes a particularly potent issue for her, she said.

"Every student is feeling the effects of the increases and we have not adequately defended ourselves," she said.

She said her experience living in Florida in the 2000 presidential election showed her the value of each vote, making her committed to voter registration.

"In a campus of 30,000, if we had every student voting, that can make a huge impact," she said.

At a local level, O'Leary is concerned with the lack of adequate security in and around campus.

"There have been far too many reported cases of sexual assault this year because of lack of security," she said.

Josie Hyman said she will work to expand the focus on social justice issues.

"We are connecting the centrality of affirmative action and integration to other issues that affect all of higher education," she said.

Hyman believes the external affairs office should lobby on behalf of the campus's progressive students.

"If we stand as a unified block, we are establishing a commitment to education," she said.

Squelch! candidate David Duman has a less traditional view of the external affairs vice president.

"I'm looking at the office as what it is-an ineffectual pile of junk that hasn't accomplished anything whatsoever," he said.

To stop the "frivolous" track of the office, Duman wants to take money away from the ASUC government and get it to the students.

"The office is really losing track of what it's supposed to do, which is affect the actual students at Cal," he said.

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