Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 2, 1998

Ideas, issues drive Wildcat endorsements

A student government must represent the students.

This fairly obvious, but often forgotten, rule kept coming up as the Arizona Daily Wildcat's Endorsement Board convened to select those who we felt were the best candidates to form the government of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona.

In selecting these candidates, the Endorsement Board looked for an emphasis on specific agendas and courses of action. We also felt that an awareness of their responsibility to represent the student population at large was important. Those candidates who had a plan for achieving their goals were the ones most enthusiastically endorsed. Experience in student government was a factor, but not necessarily a deciding factor, in these endorsements.

The Endorsement Board consisted of Tom Collins, editor in chief, M. Stephanie Murray, opinions editor, Katherine K. Gardiner, photo editor and Jason A. Vrtis, sports editor. The endorsed candidates were agreed upon through a consensus among the Board.

For the executive candidates (President, Executive Vice President and Administrative Vice President), each candidate was interviewed by two members of the Wildcat's Endorsement Board. The questions, tailored to each job description, focused on campus issues such as crime, diversity, retention rates, program funding, the Nike contract and the performance of the ASUA Senate in the past year. Also considered were the personal platform statements which each executive candidate submitted for posting on the ASUA website.

For the Senate, candidate endorsements were generally based upon responses from questionnaires covering the same issues with which the executive candidates were presented.

President

In order for a president to succeed as a voice of the Associated Students, he/she must be interested in engaging the student body in the campus conversation. Clearly candidates Tara Taylor and Patrick Williams demonstrate that interest. Both candidates also have experience, most recently Taylor as ASUA administrative vice president and Williams as club relations director for Spring Fling. In the end, Williams declared dedication to a receptive student government put him in the best position to lead the student body into the next school year. We feel his desire to see the ASUA President take a stand on the issues important to the students is essential to a leadership position. In particular, Williams proposes that better communication, not just between students and student government, but between student governments themselves, could help galvanize college students as a political force. Though both candidates call for accountability among student leaders, threatening to withhold stipends from those who do not fulfill the duties of their offices, Williams appears to be the candidate most committed to following through on the desire to serve students. Though the candidates tend to agree on the major issues facing the students of the UA, Williams understands the importance of definitive statements on behalf of the students and possesses the stamina to see them through.

Executive Vice President

Both Cisco Aguilar and Mary Brandenberger have ASUA experience in spades. Aguilar has spent the last year as a Senator and vice chairman of the Senate, while Brandenberger has held the chief-of-staff post with the current Executive Vice President.

This official is in charge of the clubs and organizations portion of ASUA and presides over the Senate.

Aguilar appears to be in the best position to fulfill these obligations. He has proposed changing the ASUA budget so that it better addresses the needs of students, by making the budget organized in lump sums instead of the current line-item system. Aguilar proposes creating several new club-oriented positions, thus freeing the Senate to concentrate on more policy making issues. Whether or not three new club advocates is the magic solution remains to be seen, but we feel it is important that the club and organization funding process pay off.

In regards to the Senate, Aguilar comes down on the side of many students, who see the student legislative body as an underutilized voice for student opinions. Though he has no vote, except in a tie-breaker, we feel Aguilar can help set the tone for the Senate as a whole and help the body to succeed as a forum for real debate and action on campus issues.

Administrative Vice President

The ASUA Administrative Vice President oversees the programs and services wing of the student government. Both candidates, Jason Hand and Ryan Rosensteel, advocate a push to raise the student awareness of ASUA's services, from the Escort Service to the International Students Association. Both candidates are currently involved in student government: Hand is Spring Fling corporate chairman and Rosensteel is a club advocate.

Rosensteel, however, demonstrates the kind of enthusiasm that the task of developing student services needs.

Rosensteel advocates increasing funding for the International Students Association to allow the group to follow through on its mission to "educate the campus on international issues." He also said he feels that services like the Women's Resource Center could better serve the student body. In order to meet these goals, Rosensteel proposes expanding the ASUA Graphic Affairs department, including a Public Affairs section, so that programs and services can better advertise what they have to offer.

Hand rightly points out that the Student Health Advisory Committee and Campus Acquaintance Rape Educators need more support in fulfilling their mission. We believe that Rosensteel, however, has a more comprehensive grasp on how to develop student government's programs and services.

Senate candidates

Michael Dobbs

Dobbs envisions an ASUA listserv that would help to keep the student body informed "about what ASUA does, what it is currently doing, and how those decisions will affect the students." He feels that this resource would help to combat the "student apathy" toward ASUA that comes from "that lack of information about their student government."

Emily Dunn

Dunn recommends that "administrators and students should combine their efforts to find answers to the low retention rate problem." She sees the central issue in the Nike deal as being "the amount of control that the Nike corporation would have over the athletic department should the deal go through," and promises to "represent the students in this issue."

Benjamin W. Graff

Graff proposes monthly open forums in which ASUA can "hear students' concerns, suggestions, and opinions." He also supports increased funding for minority student organizations and acknowledges "it is more important to be focused and productive rather than [to be] everywhere at once and ineffective."

Marisa Hall

Hall advocates "actively recruit[ing] student input through . . . the Wildcat, KAMP radio, monthly open forums, or even simple surveys, and contact with the students on a regular basis." She also believes that publicizing ASUA positions and actions on campus issues will help to further student understanding of issues which will affect them.

Josué Limón

As President of Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztl·n, LimÛn is head of one of the most visible minority student groups on campus. His awareness of diversity issues would be an important contribution to the ASUA Senate. He also believes that student involvement in discussion of the Memorial Student Union renovation is essential to the issue.

Dave Snyder

Snyder promises to personally increase the visibility of ASUA members by holding his own office hours on the Mall. He also calls for an expansion of ASUA's Graphic Affairs department, so that they may "fill their role of informing students of what organizations are available to them."

Brett Suma

Suma's solution to the Memorial Student Union renovation issue is privatization, claiming that bringing outside business into the Student Union will lower prices, increase variety in food options, and pay for the renovation and maintenance of the Student Union. He also believes that "it is the Senate's duty to represent the majority of the students' opinions and convey them to the administration," especially concerning issues like the Nike deal.

Ty Trujillo

Trujillo is interested in increasing ASUA's role in the tuition-setting process, stating that he "would lobby for the next tuition increase to be solely geared toward student services." Addressing the Nike contract issue, he recommends that "a review committee [revisit] the situation on an annual basis for the next five years," to assure that Nike maintains the worker standards demanded by the university.