Undergraduate Student Government Downtown candidates for the College of Public Programs senate seats and executive tickets debated Tuesday night about activism in the legislature, working with the Arizona Students' Association, textbook affordability, disparity funding, and community involvement.
Criminal justice majors Cecilio Porras, Joseph Amonett, Victoria Simpson and Caitelia Coppelman, candidates for the two College of Public Programs senator seats, addressed the need for community involvement and activism in the legislature.
Porras and Amonett both currently hold College of Public Programs senate seats and advocated primarily for further College of Public Programs community involvement.
"The community is important," Porras said. "Every school in (ASU) is directly connected to the community."
Amonett said he wanted to focus on social projects in the Downtown community.
Simpson and Coppelman focused more on student activism in making higher education a priority.
Simpson said greater outreach to high school students was a necessary step in getting higher education on the minds of younger generations.
"That would motivate (high school students) to pursue higher education as opposed to just stopping and giving up," Simpson said. "That's just not acceptable anymore. You have to have a degree."
Coppelman said she would focus on representing student opinions and rights.
"I do believe in a lot of student rights," Coppelman said. "I am willing to be very hard working and dedicated."
Vice president of policy candidates Sally Lopez Bravo, a health science major, and criminal justice major David Bakardjiev discussed the importance of integrating University leadership with the Arizona State Capitol.
Lopez Bravo said her involvement in the Arizona Student Association has given her the opportunity to be actively involved in the legislature.
She said she wanted to implement a system in which student opinions were paramount.
"I think it's important to grow what Downtown wants because Downtown is such a unique place," Lopez Bravo said.
Bakardjiev said he wanted to focus on keeping textbook costs low and continuing to work with the ASA and the State Legislature to keep student interests in mind.
Vice President of Services candidates Leighana Moldrem, a criminal justice and political science major, and journalism freshman Travis Moore discussed the importance of promoting unity across campuses and growing the Downtown campus culture.
Moldrem said she wanted to create more awareness for incoming students regarding Downtown campus opportunities.
"There are so many things that (students) can do here," Moldrem said. "I don't think a lot of these people know that, especially freshmen."
Moore said he wanted to show incoming students why the Downtown campus is unique.
Presidential candidates Erika Green, a nonprofit leadership and management sophomore, and criminal justice major Joseph Grossman talked about USG’s success in lobbying and implementing new policies in the past year.
Grossman is currently the USG president of the Downtown campus.
Green said her work with the ASA has given her experience with lobbying at the legislature and keeping students' best interests in mind.
"To represent our students directly, we have to go back to our grassroots organizing," Green said. "You can't represent someone unless you speak to them personally."
She said she wanted to represent not only students living on the Downtown campus, but also those who commute or live near the campus.
Grossman said he has spent large amounts of time working to unify the University campuses and lobbying bills to reflect the student body's interests.
"Being president, you need to realize that it's about what's out there beyond the campus," Grossman said.
Both candidates agreed the disparity of funding among the three state campuses is wrong and needs to be fixed, an issue brought to light by a recent legislative bill looking to correct the imbalance.
Grossman said ASU has become a much different university since he was a freshman.
"We can accomplish anything we want," Grossman said. "We already have."
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
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