Q: Your platform mentions raising the minimum wage for on-campus jobs to $12 per hour. How do you plan on accomplishing this?
A: How we’re going to go about raising the minimum wage is basically partnering with the administration. I’ve been in contact with members of the administration that are very interested in raising the minimum wage here, or changing the hours that students are able to work. It’s really important that we address this issue because affordability is a large issue here on campus. People are having trouble paying for books or for school or they are having trouble finding resources that they need to just live here. We want to make the wages livable for students.
Q: Usually when the minimum wage goes up, job opportunities go down. How does your slate plan to prevent this from happening?
A: What we’re looking at is just better planning and prioritizing with the money that we have. That will mean setting money aside for more jobs in the coming years and that’s also going to mean advocating for more money for more student jobs in the state legislature. That’s something that I’ve been doing for the past three years … We just have to be more targeted in our asks and what we want and prioritize student jobs this upcoming year … As it is right now, we would have to plan it out next year and then it would be implemented the year after.
Q: You talk about lowering rent for students to make it more affordable. What strategies do you have in mind for meeting this goal?
A: There are certain cities that have what we call a tenant association — I want to build a student tenant association. That would mean having student members actually talk to the realtor companies and negotiate rental prices with some of the bigger ones at least that we know are mistreating students, that we know are jacking up the prices or not responding well to student needs. There are specific ways that we could put pressure on the different landlords or rental companies around here to make sure that they respond accordingly … That could be media, that could be student organizing, that could be having whole groups of students withhold rent or going to meetings making sure that these realtors know that students want to be treated fairly.
Q: The University of Oregon is falling behind other Pac-12 schools in enrolling students and faculty of color. What plans does your slate have for recruiting and retaining these individuals?
A: I’ve been talking with the vice president of Inclusion and Equity and we’re both very excited and interested to start working on some type of diversity plan … I think there is a lack of community here, or a way for students of color, or faculty of color to feel like they are actually attached to the university. I’d heard that a lot and thank goodness for the student unions like BSU, APASU, MEChA, just a few to name to help build that community, but that’s the student side. I think that the administration needs to help there, and I think they’re willing to, which I think is great.
Q: What comes first: recruiting students of color and then providing resources for them, or providing resources and then recruiting them?
A: Just initially thinking about it, it would probably have to be the first contact, like the recruitment piece and making sure that that student feels comfortable with that recruiter, or feels comfortable with the university before coming here. I think that we just have issues with the recruitment part, but for students that are here and struggling, resources are also detrimental in making sure that we have those. Just logically speaking, if we want more students to come here the recruitment has to be there. Of course, we should still have those resources ready and available because it does no good to recruit those students and not have that ready, not have that sense of community ready for them when they get here.
Q: Where does sexual assault fit in on your platform?
A: It’s a high priority. We want to expand DDS and Safe Ride. We want to increase more funding towards anything that is about sexual assault prevention. It’s a problem on this campus. It’s a problem on a lot of campuses but it’s a top priority for us mainly because I have people on my campaign that are really passionate about this issue. We have a member on our slate from the Sexual Empowerment Alliance, and my slate is mostly women. It’s something that is on the forefront of my mind, and my slate’s mind in finding solutions to make sure that sexual assault prevention is at the top of what we do.