Caddie Nath: What will you be trying to accomplish if you are elected President and Vice President?
Javier Ogaz: One of our biggest goals is to transform student government into a community of service that is based on the idea that the senators and executive branch reach out to students in a more active manner.
This whole idea of Unite seems really simple, but it also has the chance to be really powerful. Students are the ones who come first in the university. Without the students there is no university.
CN: So let’s get concrete- what are you going to do? What are you going to change?
JO: Student organizations are very important as the smaller images of our overall theme of community. We want to change the way that they apply for funds by clear guidelines, the way they are licensed, and the way they get support to program on campus to create a process that works for them, not against that.
Joel Portman: The student organizations committee currently exists only to license student organizations. It should be a resource for student organizations, providing the groundwork to learn how to program.
JO: We want to see is a campus community that recognizes that we can learn from each others differences. One of the strongest points of inclusiveness is the ability to come together despite differences.
JP: We want to work with administrators so that they understand that the university can’t have this top down hierarchy with students at the bottom and discuss why there isn’t more of a focus put on the commitment of the university to the students.
JO: We want to begin to address the student attitude of feeling unable to affect change beginning this summer. One of the ways to do that is by restructuring the student government from the ground up including the creation of a three branch system.
JP: We will be making Senate more accountable. People aren’t active.
And they aren’t fulfilling the obligations that they signed on to. People need to understand that senators aren’t here for something to put on their resume, they’re here to help the university.
CN: So I’m a DU student, why should I vote for you over the other ticket?
JO: I’ve seen a lot of the short falls in leadership and the development of our campus community. I would ask all students to take into account that this campaign isn’t just a way to get your vote, but a way to involve you in addressing the issues that are at the heart of DU’s problems. The idea is to bring students together as we’ve seen them come together time and time again on issues that are really important to them.
JP: We’ve both been involved since we got to DU. Our platform is not something we threw together, but a plan that we’ve developed over the past year and beyond. Our platform isn’t something we’re using to get elected; it’s something we’re using to get students involved. Work on our platform will continue throughout next year as we try to utilize the student voice to make these changes.
