Concerns raised at BoT Listening Sessions Pages 3-4
Turning Point USA’s MAGA Hulk speaks at CWU Page 5
Theatre brings ‘Urinetown’ to CWU Page 9
Vol. 133 NO. 3
May 7, 2026
MEET YOUR 2026 ASCWU
Gabriel Genzel Staff Reporter
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PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
achel Haley and Jada Aurellia Chaplin are officially moving forward as the final two presidential candidates in the ASCWU General Election following voting results from the Primary Election hosted last week. Voting for the General Election opens on Suitable on Monday, May 11, at 8 a.m. and will close Friday, May 15, at 5 p.m. The Observer interviewed Haley, a Public Policy major, and Aurellia Chaplin, a Nutrition major, and presented both with the same five questions regarding their campaign, inspirations and goals as president. The following are their responses, edited for clarity: Q: What inspired you to take on this role in ASCWU? Aurellia Chaplin : What really inspired me is being here my first year and dealing with a lot of issues, since I’m independent. I really didn’t feel like I had the advocacy that I do now. I made sure I went out into my community, if that’s local or even ASCWU, to make sure that I can advocate for myself and others, because I understand the struggle of being alone here on campus. Haley : So the first thing is, I have a lot of connections with the student government, and I’ve been able to look at the positions through an outside lens. I’m currently a resident assistant, and I facilitate and help assist freshmen, and the general consensus that I’ve found is that a lot of people don’t know that ASCWU even exists. I felt like we needed, since Hondo (Acosta-Vega) is stepping down, a body of government that is more focused on educating the people and making sure that they know that they have representatives in the first place. I’m a public policy major so on my end, this would be a great way to kind of exercise some of my leadership capabilities in a more professional capacity that could help benefit me in the future, but also leave my mark on the campus before I graduate next year.
Q: What is the main mission of your campaign? Aurellia Chaplin : My main mission is to make a healthy, loving campus. I really want to make sure that we have trauma-informed policies, the mental and physical well-being and support of administration, student body and all the areas that students need love and support. Haley : The main thing for me is again, making sure that students know exactly where they can go to find help or talk with officials, letting them know that officials are here in the first place, as well as communicating with students more about things that are going on in campus. The Observer has covered a lot of things that have happened on campus, and I think your work is very important, but I think the student government should also be taking stances on these kind of issues and communicating with the students; just in case they don’t read the Observer or they don’t know what’s going on on campus, their student government’s keeping them well informed and they know that we have their back. Q: What does it mean to you to be president of ASCWU? Aurellia Chaplin : What it means to me is honestly just being able to be an advocate and support system for my students. I really want to love everyone and pour my heart out into the student body and everywhere else here on campus. Being here for the last two years, I got to see the areas that we need to support, and being present just means that I can be that shoulder that people can cry on. If that’s administrative, professional, even personal; I just really want to be able to be an empowering advocate that loves everyone. Haley : For me, the President’s position is definitely one that’s more of a figurehead in a capacity. A lot of people think that the President has a lot of power, but in reality, it’s very limited. It’s more of a supporting role than anything. When I picture myself as President, I’m picturing myself helping the Directors and the Senate and the Equity and Services Council (ESC) all coming together and communicating with each other. One of my cam-
paign slogans is bridge the gap, and originally that was for bridging the gap between the student government and the students themselves. Now I’m realizing that there’s communication issues even within the student government branches, and so I would be emailing a lot, meeting a lot, but also making sure that the areas of government feel like they can connect with each other, and then also that the students can connect with those areas. Q: What is an example of leadership that has influenced your leadership style? Aurellia Chaplin : Honestly, I think just watching my fellow leaders here at ASCWU, my predecessors, really seeing how they work, especially Hondo, he’s very fiery. I appreciate the passion and the drive and the love that he has, and also Malik (Cantu), I’ve been able to see both of them, and it showed me that I can do the same thing they did, but hopefully better. I know their flaws and I know their successes, and I see mine too. I want to be able to be successful. I want to be able to be an empowering student leader, just like they were, to make sure that their legacy goes on. Haley : One thing that I think kind of steered my goal into being into public policy, which is another reason why I’m doing this, was in my high school senior year. I was the student body president of that and we had to deal with a bunch of budget cuts and an administration that didn’t talk to us or didn’t really communicate with their staff or their students. I had taken the initiative as just a student rep to communicate with that administration and try to bring the community together in those tough times. There I felt like I had that passion and that drive to do that. Now I’ve based my entire career goals around being a leader and fighting for people that have a lot of grievances or are not being treated fairly, and making sure that I can talk with those people that could change that.
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