A Better Berkeley is Possible… Spring 2010 Executive Candidates
CalSERVE Releases 2010 Executive Slate for the Spring ASUC Elections
BERKELEY, CA- Today, Cal Students for Equal Rights and a Valid Education (CalSERVE) has released its executive slate for the 2010 ASUC elections. CalSERVE, the longest running progressive student political party, was founded in 1984 during the movement to divest university funds from South African apartheid. For a quarter of a century, CalSERVE has fought to make the ASUC a vehicle for creating progressive change on campus, in the local community, and at the state and national levels.
CalSERVE has fought for an accessible, affordable education that is valid to students. We have successfully helped to register over a third of the campus population to vote in the last Presidential election, coordinated and won the state-wide “Count Me In” campaign for the disaggregation of the “Asian-American” category on UC admissions surveys, and successfully negotiated the Memorandum of Understanding with the University to create the Multi-Cultural Center. Furthermore, we consistently organize students to attend the Regents meetings in order to amplify students’ voice in decisions that affect us all.
This spring, the coalition will run current CalSERVE Senator Eunice Kwon as the Presidential candidate, CalSERVE Senator Lean Deleon for Executive Vice President, EAVP Legislative Liaison and CalSERVE coalition member Ricardo Gomez for External Affairs Vice President, and current CalSERVE Senator Viola Tang for Academic Affairs Vice President.
CalSERVE continues to play a role in creating a socially just and responsible UC system, by supporting campus diversity and accessibility, promoting campus sustainability, and empowering our student organizations. The coalition is not only committed to fighting fee increases but also to educating current students of about the impacts of the budget cuts and fee hikes. Academic Affairs candidate Tang aims “to use the various resources and networks of the AAVP position to guarantee a valid education for our students.”
External Affairs candidate Gomez states, “The CalSERVE slate is committed. This slate will bring last semester’s campus organizing for lower fees, greater accessibility, and better transparency to even more students.” As one of the first organizations to begin organizing and educating students on the 32% fee increase, the CalSERVE coalition has proven its commitment to reform public higher education by fighting for affordable and accessible higher education for all. As a senator, Deleon has, “done outreach to a multitude of student organizations and have seen first hand how the budget cuts have affected all of us.” As Governor Schwarzenneger’s Chief of Staff told the New York Times, last semester’s UC protests were the “tipping point” in galvanizing a conversation over the state reinvesting in public education.
Presidential candidate Kwon mentions, “I am excited to be given this opportunity to serve alongside with the rest of the slate. They are some of the sharpest, most passionate people I know. We are all working together to keep our university public, our education affordable, and our campus services student-centered. We plan to use our time in office to further these goals and to make tangible changes in the ASUC to benefit the student body.”
CalSERVE Co-Signatories Mary June Flores and Isaac Miller believe, “the CalSERVE Executive candidates this year have a broad range of experiences and qualifications that allow them to envision and build an ASUC that is accountable to the student body and that will aggressively advocate for students to our campus administration, UC Regents, and political representatives. We are confident that Eunice, Lean, Ricardo, and Viola will be at the forefront of pressing issues, leading and taking critical stances on behalf of the well-being of all students.”