In the race for the internal vice president position ““ one
of the most contested posts ““ Genevieve Espinosa stands out
as an adequately experienced and capable candidate in what is
otherwise a pool of weak competitors.
Espinosa, running under the Students First! slate, has
experience with the biggest issues that USAC would face next year,
such as cuts to outreach, possible student fees increases, and the
efforts to repeal the expected cumulative progress requirement.
Espinosa is currently the president of Samahang Pilipino, in
which she oversees cultural events and outreach programs. In
addition, Espinosa was appointed to the Student Fee Advisory
Committee this year as one of four undergraduate representatives
who makes recommendations to the chancellor on the use of student
fees.
For the most part, Espinosa’s goals look to expand upon
the work current IVP Allende Palma/Saracho did.
Specifically, Espinosa would expand the Student Advocacy
Collective, an interactive meeting between various student
organizations that encourage discussion and collaboration. It is
encouraging that Espinosa would continue the collective and make it
more inclusive of all student groups, allowing constructive
discourses, rather than resorting to fighting on Bruin Walk.
Espinosa would work to obtain more office space for student
programming. She would also push for the addition of a question on
the housing application that would require incoming students to
indicate whether they would feel comfortable living with a lesbian,
gay, bisexual or transgender student.
All three of Espinosa’s opponents are lacking in
experience and a substantive platform necessary to be the
second-in-command on council.
Mona Hassani, running under the Equal Access Coalition, does not
have enough experience relevant to the office and has not
articulated plans to address issues like the ECP requirement and
the BruinGo! program. Hassani’s goal of increasing visibility
by creating a newsletter is not likely to be successful.
Independent candidate Jonathan Cohen has some experience on the
Hill, and said he would not support some important programs like
the diversity requirement or traditional outreach efforts.
Another independent candidate, Darren Chan, was uninspiring with
his lack of experience and less-than-adequate platform.
Though Espinosa’s plans would generally keep things the
way they are, she is no doubt the best choice for IVP.