The 2019–20 academic year student government elections are coming, and on April 5, the Associated Students of Portland State University gave student voters the chance to meet the candidates on the upcoming ballot. Students will get the chance to vote on one presidential candidate, one vice presidential candidate, 16 senatorial positions and seven student fee committee positions. Here is Vanguard’s 2019 ASPSU election guide.
Name: Hanna Anderson
Position: Senator
Slate: Independent
About: Hanna wants to increase the transparency between ASPSU and the student body to help empower students to make their voices heard. She says ASPSU is often content with the bare minimum in terms of transparency. She has a few ideas she could implement to help inform students. Hanna said she wants to provide the tools needed to empower student voices.
“In student government, everyone says they want to empower student voices and they say that they care about the student voices, but I haven’t seen the effort put forth by [ASPSU] to inform the student body about what’s going on.”
“We need to empower [student] voices by helping them build their voice and making sure they are not ignored.”
Name: Kyle Leslie-Christy
Position: President
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Kyle is the current student life director for ASPSU and the chair of the SALP space committee. He is also on the Student Sustainability and Leadership Counsel, the SALP advisory board and the Campus Recreation Advisory Board. Kyle is a transfer student from Portland Community College and Lane Community College and wants to build community as a foundation in the student body. He wants to engage the PSU community around issues such as tuition reduction, housing insecurity and food insecurity.
“We will be more successful as a student body and a student government on those initiatives if we have community-based systems where everyone feels engaged, everyone feels like their voices are heard and they feel like their voice is actually taken into account and used efficiently.
“I recognize the potential within you and every individual at PSU, and I believe given the right tools, instructions, guidelines and expression, we can do a lot of great things here at PSU.”
Name: Motutama Sipelii
Position: Vice President
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Motu is a first-generation, non-resident student. He feels he understands what it’s like to be a PSU student. He wants to make a community where students feel safe to be who they are and express their thoughts and opinions about PSU.
“I want to get to know the students, to be a part of their educational journey, to let them know that their voices are being heard. We are there to serve them, and we care and we are their advocates for change.”
“You should vote for me because I bring something new to PSU, not only by my attire. Students should be able to express who they are wherever, whenever, however they choose, and you should vote for me because this is a new face. I bring a lot of new ideas to the campus. I want PSU to be your second home away from home.”
Name: Hannah Grazian
Position: Senator
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
About: Hannah is running because she enjoys pushing herself and seeing what she is capable of. She thinks she can bring a lot of good to the slate and to the senate as a new face with new ideas. She wants to see this school grow, new ideas come to light and have student government represent what students want, rather than what ASPSU wants.
“I want people to actually know who we are. [I want to] make our name heard, make sure everyone knows who we are, so that when people see us on the street, they actually know we can do something to help them as students and individuals.”
Name: Aimee Marentette
Position: Senator
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
About: Aimee is a first-year student at PSU. When she first came here, she didn’t know about ASPSU, and when she found out, she didn’t like the way it was run. She wants to make sure everyone in the school knows about ASPSU, so if they don’t agree with the current members’ positions, they have the option to run.
“I feel like I’m a fresh face. I’m literally a freshman, and I feel like all of these upperclassmen have experience, but they aren’t freshmen, and I want the younger voices to be heard too.”
Name: Devon Wanderon
Position: Student Fee Committee Member
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
About: Devon is an accounting major in his third year at PSU. He’s worked with student media in the past, mentored at Alder elementary school and worked for Alternative Spring Break in San Francisco through PSU. He has also worked with the Student Sustainability Center.
“[Running for the Student Fee Committee] feels like a natural next step to get more of an overarching experience at Portland State. All that past experience, I feel like I’d make a good candidate to bring unique perspectives to the student body.”
Name: Fouad Mohiadeen
Position: Student Fee Committee Member
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
About: Fouad is a third-year student at PSU and wants to contribute and be more involved in the inner workings of the school. He is in the School of Business at PSU. He thinks change is good regardless of who is running. He thinks whether students agree with how their money is being spent or not, it’s important to understand why certain decisions are made.
“I’ve been a student who’s been out of touch before. I didn’t really care—or wasn’t informed of—how things happened at the school, how fees were spent, the inner workings…in my years at this school, I matured and realized I wanted to be more involved. I would like to understand how this school runs things and where student dollars are going and how they can be spent most effectively.”
“I bring a fresh new face [and] a new perspective. SFC is a great opportunity for me to use those skills I acquired here at PSU and hone it in while not only contributing to SFC to make an impact, but to help myself as well.”
Name: Wyatt Isaacs
Position: Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Wyatt is hoping to better include the voices of people with disabilities into student government.
“I have autism and want to help people with autism. I believe in campus diversity and for all students to be included. I want there to be transparency with the student body.”
Name: Alexandre Dassise (Alex)
Position: Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Alex wants to increase transparency between the administration and the students, and to help connect students with resources on campus, such as housing, food, health and mental health. Alex believes that students should be aware of what they have available to them and how much power and control they have on campus.
“I believe people should vote for me because I have a great track record of being part of a lot of great organizations, starting my own business, being a part of helping groups that don’t have all the resources, so helping groups with autism or other disabilities.”
Name: Violet Gibson (VP Nayeli Naranjo-Robles)
Position: President,
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
About: Violet is a quantitative economics major and has been with ASPSU for five years, working first as a civil leadership intern, then as a senator, and then finally as a student fee committee member.
“I’ve seen a lot of presidential candidates who have won, and I’ve seen what they’ve wanted with ASPSU, and they said they wanted to hear from the students. But in all actuality they were just perpetuating their own ideas, and since they were elected officials, they were assuming that’s what students want. With my campaign, I want to actually give voices back to the students, and I want to throughout the year be asking the students, ‘What do you want, what do you need, what can ASPSU do to represent you better to the administration?’”
Name: Nayeli Naranjo-Robles
Position: Vice President
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
Violet Gibson on running-mate Nayeli Naranjo-Robles: “Nayeli is the general manager for Portland State Professional Sound … she is also a first-generation American, so that’s something that she really wants to push for, getting those extra resources for those communities.”
Name: Hakan Kutgun
Position: SFC Member
Slate: Independent
About: Hakan is an international PhD student in engineering and technology management and has been with ASPSU for two years. He is currently serving as the operations director and has served as the legislative affairs director as well.
“I really want to get into the nitty-gritty of how student dollars are being spent this year. As a project manager, I have experience in finances. I’m good with people, so I really want to do my best to represent the best interests of how student money is being spent.”
Name: Peter Wedlake
Position: Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Peter is a first-year student with experience in politics. For the past year, he has been working in the state legislature with Representative Susan McClain, D–Hillsboro, whose focus is on education. Peter said one of the biggest issues facing student government right now is the disconnect between what ASPSU is doing and how much students are aware of it. He also hopes that by telling more students what ASPSU is doing, more students will turn up to vote.
“A lot of our funding comes from the state and understanding what the state is expecting the university to do, and what we can do to ease that transition or make sure that policy is reflecting what the students want.”
Name: Nicholas LaHusen
Position: Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Nicholas, a business management major, is currently a senator for the student life and academic affairs committee. He hopes to focus on increased transparency and communication within ASPSU and to bring more open education—such as free and reduced-cost textbooks—to students.
“[Students should vote for me because] I’ve been homeless, I’ve had a life-threatening disease, I have to rely on the DRC, I’ve had some hardships of my own—mostly, it’s the fact that I care. I’ve been going to this school for three years now, and I couldn’t be a part of student government before…but now I can, and I’m trying to be a part of it, and I think that makes a big difference, the fact that I care.”
Name: Nathan Mapes
Position running for: Senator
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
About: Nathan hopes to one day dedicate his life to public service and is looking to get more involved in PSU to make a positive impact.
“I think I have a combination of past experience working in committees and so forth, I have been elected before on a ballot in my county…[I think the] approach that being pragmatic to get things done and having to get along with people would serve me well in the student senate.”
Name: Sophie Balthazaar
Position: Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
About: Sophie is a junior studying health science for pre-nursing. This is her second year running for student senate because she wants to be involved in her community and make a difference at the PSU campus.
“I’m very involved, and I really want to be able to help students have a voice here on campus. I think it’s important that as students we have a say on what’s going on in our community, and I want to be able to be that voice for people and be able to represent other students here.”
Name: Jared Chin
Position: Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
Name: Aydia Johnson
Position:Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
Name: Allen Lam
Position:Senator
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
Name: Grace Hagemann
Position: Senator
Slate: Independent
Name: Mallory Hawke
Position: Senator
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
Name: India Wynne
Position: Senator
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
Name: Jose Rojas-Fallas
Position: SFC Member
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership
Name: Samson R. Swan
Position: SFC Member
Slate: Creating a Cohesive Community
Name: Gabriel Hagemann
Position: SFC Member
Slate: Independent
Name: Sirra Anderson
Position: SFC Member
Slate: New Possibilities, True Leadership