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Show 4 Monday March 5, 2012 OPINION www.dailyutahchronicle.com THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW For studentI centric ideas, I Sync party gets our vote Editor's Note: The Daily Utah Chronicle sat down with both presidential candidates Sunday afternoon to discuss their platforms. Despite Jake Rush's employment as an opinion writer, the collective decision to endorse his candidacy was based solely on his platform. he U's halls are littered with purple and green in an effort to encourage students to vote for their next ASUU president. The Open Party has worn its purple proudly and campaigned hard during this year's election, but Sync has gotten the green light from The Daily Utah T Chronicle. LUIGI GHERSI/The Daily Utah Chronicle ASUU candidates share platforms, personalities Logan Froerer What is the single best thing about the U? STAFF WRITER The Daily Utah Chronicle sat down with ASUU presidential candidates Geneva Thompson, from Open party, and Jake Rush, from Sync party. Columnist Logan Froerer works with Thompson in the Honors College's Social Justice Scholars Program and was Rush's former supervisor and now fellow columnist at The Daily Utah Chronicle. WHO ARE YOU? So first, who are you, on a personal level? Who is Geneva, and who is Jake? Sync: Jake is a little monster, so I like Lady Gaga. I like oldies music, especially Bob Dylan. I'm a golfer. I like to ride my street-bike. I collect newspapers from important days, like the day Obama was elected. And I like philosophy, too. Open: Geneva is a history and poli-sci major and can't get enough of poli-sci. I love David Bowie. Absolutely adore David Bowie. My favorite color is yellow, and I drive a green RAV4 and love that car. It can survive anything. And my new favorite phrase is, "Like a boss." What made you decide to run for president? Sync: I like the challenge of changing the ethos in student government, of making sure that student government puts the student first, and trying to change the ethos on a university-wide scale so that the student, not the administration and not the profit, is the top priority. Generally education at the university level is moving farther away from a studentbased system. Open: I decided to run because I've been working in ASUU for a couple years. I see the flaws in the institution and they just get at me. I really want to fix them so ASUU becomes an institution that represents students in the administration. Right now, I feel like there's a disconnect between students and administrators. My big goal is to bring ASUU back to the students. Open: The energy that students have. Everyone has big dreams, big goals, and there's many different outlets that allow students to get to those dreams and goals. Sync: The Chronicle. No, I'm just kidding. I think one of the coolest parts of the U is that 53 percent of the campus is nontraditional students, whether that's students with families, veterans or international students. That makes for a really diverse campus and really diverse voices. What's the worst thing about the U, and how are you going to address it? Open: Worst is a tough word, but something that's motivating me to run is the disconnect between administrators' and students' thoughts and opinions. It's really important that the administrators know what students want. And also, $15 for a transcript? I had to pay that today. Sync: I actually thought about making one of my platforms free transcripts within the university. Open: Thank you! Sync: What's tough to deal with from the student perspective is the food. It's not that it's bad, but it's the same. Chartwells has a monopoly, and a lot of the time it's expensive. That's why I want to bring food trucks on campus to give students more options and at better times. BUZZWORDS Now I'm going to give you guys a buzzword — I want you to define it and tell us what it should look like at the U. Diversity Sync: Diversity is exactly what you see on campus right now: 53% nontraditional, a strong international constituency, veterans, grad students, students with families. We're already there to a large extent. It's just a matter of integrating those people, finding out GENEVA THOMPSON OPEN JAKE RUSH SYNC PARTY PLATFORMS OPEN PARTY: 1. Open our student government: Make meeting and budget information accessible 2. Create a forum for student voices: Allow students to post online petitions 3. Promote an inclusive community: Monthly diversity training for ASUU employees 4. Work toward sustainability: Reduce, reuse, then recycle 5. Expand our campus community: Football tailgate events with student organizations SYNC PARTY: 1. Student tuition council: Advise the Board of Trustees on tuition and fee increases 2. Withdraw policy reform: Prorate tuition charges, one W removed from record 3. Food trucks: Bring food from local vendors to campus 4. Food pantry: Provide emergency food assistance to low-income, struggling students why they're in school, and facilitating those needs. Open: Diversity for me is not only having a big group of people who have different backgrounds. It's also having those people accept each other for their differences. Working toward diversity is making sure that acceptance is there. I agree with Jake that we do have a good amount of different people here on See INTERVIEW Page 5 Sync represents the common student and moves away from the tradition of leadership emerging out of Greek Row and student housing. Sync's presidential candidate Jake Rush, junior in political science and philosophy and columnist for The Daily Utah Chronicle, lacks previous involvement in ASUU, which allows him to walk into office with a fresh pair of eyes and ears. The green-shirted candidates who approach ASUU from a student's perspective are a large contributor to Sync's student-focused platforms. There are two markets of policy in Sync's platforms that make them stand out against the Open Party. Structural policy is something that Sync is trying to affect. When looking within the structure of ASUU, one of its biggest responsibilities is overseeing student groups. Sync proposes to reform ASUU bylaws and make it easier for student groups to get funding by not forcing consistent groups to start their budget at zero and fight upward, but start with $2,500 after three years of dependable management. This rewards student groups and allows ASUU to streamline one of its primary functions at the U. Secondly, Sync would attempt to prorate tuition charges for classes withdrawn from. So if a student withdraws, they would pay for the amount of time they were enrolled in the class but not the entire course. The platform saves students a bit of money while fairly paying the U for services received. Prorating tuition would affect all students on campus. Although working with the administrative power that be in making a pro rata policy presents a certain amount of difficulty, the intention to lower student costs is a worthy goal. Food policy is also strongly emphasized in Sync's campaign as it fights to feed students. The platform to bring food trucks on campus could widen eating options for students and save them a couple bucks each week. Although the U would take zo percent of the profit, giving students another eating alternative is worthwhile. With Sync's strong nontraditional student focus, the proposal to have an accessible food pantry in the ASUU office could benefit struggling students and U families during difficult economic times. The proposed policy requires students seeking assistance to come to the ASUU office, flash their U Card, and fill out a form to receive food from a pantry of donated goods. An on-campus pantry does pose some issues, such as filling it year-round and managing inventory, but the idea has been vetted through a model at Utah Valley University. Although the Open Party is riddled with experience and strong synonyms such as "inclusive" and "expand," its platform leaves much to be desired and is ASUU-centric in nature. The Chronicle is ready for a new perspective in student government. Sync's ideas are clear, researched and focused on investing in the student body. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Signed editorials, editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. 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