Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 2, 1998

Exec. vice presidential candidates

Cisco Aguilar

Cisco Aguilar has wielded the executive vice president's gavel before - this year as vice chairman of the Senate, he ran a Senate meeting in Executive Vice President Casey Cuny's absence.

Aguilar, an accounting and finance junior, said he believes in taking a stand on issues instead of hiding behind political double talk. He said he envisions a Senate that will be as bold in its policy-making.

"They have the clout to take a stance on issues," Aguilar said. "They can be leaders first and politicians second."

He said sometimes politicians wait to take a stand, but are afraid of looking bad so they hold off. But Aguilar said taking the risk is worth it.

"It'll let the administration know this is an active Senate," Aguilar said.

Then UA administrators, who will know there is a loud, active voice protecting student interests, will consider the students' views more when making policies, he said.

Aguilar said he wants to head a more policy-driven Senate that will hear student voices on controversial issues, air out the problems in discussions and draft resolutions to influence policy-making at the administrative and legislative levels.

He said he wants to collect the statutes and resolutions passed by the Senate in a book that future senators could consult.

Aguilar also wants to make sure poor academic advising doesn't slip by the Senate unchallenged.

"It makes me cringe every time I hear someone had a bad experience with advising, because I've gone through it and know how it feels," he said.

Aguilar said the Senate has the power to make recommendations to the administration about the need for more courteous and caring advisers. Speaking out against poor advising is part of the attack he wants the Senate to lead on sagging student retention rates, he said.

"It's about treating students with respect," Aguilar said. "If someone's nice to you you're going to feel welcome and think this is a great place to be."

Another plan he wants to push is the creation of a central tutoring center for all students. A center exists now just for students with learning disabilities, Aguilar said, but all students can benefit from the specialized attention.

He also wants to allocate more money to sports clubs. The ASUA money leftover every year, Aguilar said, would be better directed to finance the clubs.

He said he also wanted to perpetuate as a yearly school tradition CatFest, the joint club fair and concert at the school year's start.

Aguilar said he wants students to know he is an approachable guy who will listen to their concerns.

"I'm a happy-go-lucky person, but when I need to be firm and responsible and mature I can," he said.

Mary Brandenberger

Mary Brandenberger is Executive Vice President Casey Cuny's chief of staff, a position she created with Cuny and President Gilbert Davidson last year.

She said she has become poised to take over the executive vice president position because she was Cuny's right hand, managing clubs and organizations tasks he didn't have time to handle.

"I know what I'm doing," she said.

Brandenberger said she likes to deliberate for a while before taking a stance on an issue, but added that once she has decided, she stands firm.

"I'm not going to jump into it until I know every single detail there is to know," she said. "When I do take a stance I take a stance - I take it clearly."

She said she wants to keep the Senate project-driven, rather than policy-driven as Aguilar envisions.

"If it's not broken, we don't need to fix it," she said. "I don't want to go looking for problems," she said.

Brandenberger said she wants senators do more student outreach.

"Senators should act as educators to the students," she said. "It's the responsibility of senators to go out and educate and get feedback."

As part of the outreach effort, Brandenberger said she wants to publish Senate reports on the World Wide Web.

"We need to go to the student body, they shouldn't have to come to us," she said.

She said she also wants to promote existing clubs and organizations.

"There is not a single organization I do not support," she said. "I'm going to support the chess club as much as a fraternity."

Brandenberger said that effort will aid in student retention as students find their niche on campus.

"Senate outreach and club participation makes the campus that much smaller," she said. "Every single person has a place on this campus and I want to help students find their place."

Brandenberger said she also wants to forge a stronger partnership between ASUA and the Office of Student Programs.

"We both realize the need for flexibility and we both strive for the same things so there's no reason why we can't work together to achieve these goals," she said.

She also wants to increase sport club funding.

"The money is there and I want to push for more," she said. "There's definitely a need for it."

Brandenberger said she loves ASUA and campus involvement.

"My passion is student involvement," she said. "I've seen it all, I've dabbled with everything."