2015 AS Elections Supplement

UCSB’s Weekly Student-Run Newspaper

Volume 9, Issue 20 | April 20 - April 23, 2015

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SPECIAL EDITION

ELECTIONS SUPPLEMENT VOTE: April 20th - 23rd on GOLD

AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

JAMES “JIMMY” VILLAREAL

JASON GARSHFIELD

OPEN PEOPLE’S PARTY

FREE THINKING PATRIOTS

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Both interviews conducted by Bailee Abell | ASSOCIATED STUDENTS BEAT REPORTER

Why do you want to be AS president?

I’ve been off-campus senator last year, and then Letters and Science senator this year.

Worked on Finance Board last year—now it’s Finance and Business Committee, same deal— IVTU (Isla Vista Tenants Union). […] Basically working in AS I have seen how amazing a vehicle it is for student interests. Obviously we are all here for an education—that’s what the university provides—but there are a lot of gaps within the school and we don’t get all these other things, and so that’s what AS is for.

AS is for student health, it’s for a bike shop, it’s for a food bank, you know, things that fill in the gaps for what is missing, for what the university doesn’t provide. I see it as a really amazing vehicle for that, and a way to amplify the student voice. Many of us are young men and women living on our own for the first time, making a lot of our own decisions for the first time. It’s a way for us to influence what our university experience looks like. I think that I have the experience and the vision necessary to keep this vehicle moving in an upward trajectory and doing what the students want.

Student apathy for the Association is still a persistent issue. How do you plan on making AS a more inclusive association?

I do 100 percent agree with you that apathy is still an issue, or definitely an issue. I think that for Associated Students, the outreach, the recruitment, and retention are hugely, hugely important. How are we going to make people who aren’t interested in AS care about what’s going on here? By being useful to them. We have so many resources, so many services that we provide, and all the time students don’t know about it.

The Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer are the two positions [within ASOP] that I am most excited about, so I want to do targeted recruitment for those people… This is a $10.8 million association overall—this is a huge deal! It’s a great experience to be the CFO of that—come out, apply!

The very first thing I want to do is get the best people in the job… I want to do outreach to more students to let them know that these are the kind of resources available that they don’t know about.

What will you do as president to address continued state divestment from higher education and subsequent rising UC tuition?

There’s a few things I can do as president for that. Number one is collaboration and communication with the EVPSA’s office. One thing that I was kind of disappointed before starting the whole election’s season—obviously, you have to meet with your respective positions, so I met with Ali—but when I was asking her different things as president, I was really surprised when I found out that she

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As far as advocacy goes, like I said, I can’t personally lower tuition. That has to do with the state legislature, that has to do with the Regents, all this stuff. I can be an advocate and make them see the student side and where we’re coming from… I can’t change the level of policing, but I can advocate for that.

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Because I think that a lot of people in AS spend all four years there, they learn how to be bureaucrats, they learn how to be politicians, they don’t learn how to represent the students. So I am coming at this with a completely new perspective, and I think that I will be a much better representative than the people who are currently in charge.

Why do you want to be AS president?

didn’t work very closely with the Council of Presidents, which is the president of every single UC. [They always meet] at least once a quarter, but this year just up to now I think they have met four or five times just with Janet Napolitano. And so I was really taken aback by [the fact that she] doesn’t actually work very closely with everyone else who is the sole representative of each UC. If we don’t all get on the same page, then how can we expect anyone else to get on the same page? So that’s a big thing that I want to change. After that, if we can all agree on things and if we can start bringing those things to the UC Student Association and the U.S. Student Association. Because we are all coming from different angles and trying to attack it, at the one big meeting when we get with Napolitano, we’re not going to get anything done. We have to come unified.

I want to be AS president because students deserve a choice, because the current administration, I believe, does not represent the wants, needs of the UCSB community, because over the past years I’ve watched the situation in Isla Vista grow worse. I have felt like there was not a single voice for civil liberties on the AS executive board or the AS senate, and that is why I am running for president. Because on December 3 they passed a resolution condemning the militarization of the police in Ferguson, a resolution to stand in solidarity with Ferguson, which said, I quote directly, “The tactics of militarized forces contradict their duty to serve and protect.” The AS executive board could stand in solidarity with Ferguson, but they could not stand in solidarity with our community when two SWAT bearcats with riot control gear were rolling into our town. I think this is a shameful lapse of integrity and a lapse of leadership, and as AS president I will fix that.

What will you do as president to defend student organizations?

Student apathy for the Association is still a persistent issue. How do you plan on making AS a more inclusive association?

This year, I served as the chair of Finance and Business Committee, so I already have a lot of experience helping student organizations get funding and get through the whole Associated Students process. We have over 400 registered OSL [Office of Student Life] groups on campus, and for a lot of them getting funding from the Finance and Business Committee is their only contact with AS. It’s not always so easy; they are confused, there is a lack of communication. We are working through the Creative Media Unit that we just created last year, and one of those things is creating a lot of videos, and that’s going to help overall make AS function better… Just as far as representation goes, my door is going to be open. I am always available for them, any group, I am happy to listen to them. That’s my job, to amplify their voices on all levels—at the university level, talking to Chancellor Yang, all the way up to the statewide level, talking to Janet Napolitano. Another big thing about […] OSL groups is everyone who has been registered all of last year and this year can apply for a startup fund that is $250… so you can do whatever it is that your organization wants to do, we want it to be thriving. So one of the things that I wanted to implement this year—the reason I had this idea was for safety, but it will be good for student groups in general—is that every student group that has their entire organization go through bystander intervention training, which we will be making available to all student groups…then rather than $250 they can get up to $300 for their startup fee. So a little extra money, a little incentive… because safety is a huge thing. As Associated Students, I kind of think of my job on two ends. There’s the advocacy side, and then there’s the [fact that], you know, I’m the chief executive officer of a multimillion dollar organization. As far as advocacy goes, like I said, I can’t personally lower tuition. That has to do with the state legislature, that has to do with the Regents, all this stuff.

I can be an advocate and make them see the student side and where we’re coming from…

I can’t change the level of policing, but I can advocate for that.

Student apathy is something I am very concerned about, especially considering that in the last election only 37 percent of students voted, and this isn’t some national election where you have to wait in the polls for an hour. This is a student election where you have to go on GOLD for five minutes and check a few boxes, and apparently last year the candidates were so uninspiring that 63 percent of the students couldn’t even bother to do that. So I think that shows that Associated Students is not in touch with the people that it should be in touch with. I think that one of the problems with the current administration is that they do not have enough contact with the voters in the public, and that is something I want to rectify. I want to hold events where people in the community can get to know their representative and where people can come together and talk about these issues and know that they are being heard by the person that is representing them. Because I think that a lot of people in AS spend all four years there, they learn how to be bureaucrats, they learn how to be politicians, they don’t learn how to represent the students. So I am coming at this with a completely new perspective, and I think that I will be a much better representative than the people who are currently in charge. Also, I don’t necessarily know if student apathy is 100 percent a bad thing because not everyone wants to get involved in politics, and that’s okay, you know? Some people just aren’t political creatures, and it’s them who I am trying to protect. If someone wants to go out and do their own thing in life, whatever that is, whatever they want to do—that’s great. And if they want something to do with politics, that’s great. And I believe those people should vote for me because I am the rare political figure who will protect their rights to do that, to do whatever they want with their own life, so long as it’s not hurting anyone else.

What will you do as president to address continued state divestment from higher education and subsequent rising UC tuition?

I think one of the things we need to do with this is hold our politicians accountable. In September or October of 2012, I came here as a freshman and I joined the Campus Democrats, and we all fought

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very hard to pass Proposition 30, which we were told would raise taxes across the state to fund the UCs. I thought that was a great idea at the time, and so I fought hard to pass it, and the proposition was supposed to fund the UCs until 2016. But two years later in the fall of 2014, the state government was telling us once again that they were going to raise tuition, so I feel like we are betrayed and I feel lied to and I think it’s a shame that the students have already forgotten what they were promised when they fought so hard to pass Proposition 30.

A tax increase is never desirable, but its effects can be desirable, and I think we were misled about the effects of Proposition 30 so I will hold our politicians accountable. I believe in transparency of the budget, not just for this association but for the entire UC system, and so when I get up there and I start working with the UC presidents I’ll get all of them to come together and encourage Napolitano and demand that she makes her UC budget completely transparent and completely accountable to the people, because she is a smart politician and we all have to work together to make sure this goes through.

What will you do as president to defend student organizations?

There are a lot of student organizations out there and one group of student organizations that I am very concerned about being treated unfairly is the Greek system. I feel that there’s been a lot of negative press about them, and I understand that there are a few bad apples, but overall I feel that most of the people within the Greek system are upstanding, honorable citizens. So I will protect their reputation and if a fraternity is accused of unsavory behavior, I will make sure I have all the facts before taking action against them. I don’t want a situation to happen like at the University of Virginia last fall with the Rolling Stone article. A fraternity was accused of horrific gang rape and the school closed down every single frat on campus before learning that the Rolling Stone article was based on faulty information.

So I will stand up for due process. I will make sure that fraternities and sororities in the Greek system are given a fair chance, that they are not maligned or accused of horrible things, and that all accusations are proven true. As far as student organizations, I also think we need to be careful about funding.

There are lots of great organizations out there and I support a lot of what they are doing, but there are students in Isla Vista who are struggling to pay their bills, who are struggling to pay ends meet, and so as AS president I feel that it would be my responsibility to speak for those students as well, and to make sure that we don’t spend too much on esoteric organizations to the point where it takes away from the general interest of the student body.

I am also going to get rid of restrictive rules on student organizations. For instance, one thing that I came across while reading about this issue is that fraternities at UCSB are not allowed to serve alcohol at events with more than 30 people if that event occurs at a fraternity house or a satellite house. So I think that’s an unnecessary rule. I believe the people who are a legal drinking age should be allowed to consume whatever they want, and I will make sure that rule is overturned. We can address violence as violence. There is no need to consider alcohol as violence. My job as AS president is to punish criminals, not to take away the rights of students because they might potentially be criminals in some universe.

TBL | Apr 20-Apr 23, 2015

2 | IVP CANDIDATES

ZACHARIAH GOULHIANE

KIMIA HASHEMIAN

INDEPENDENT | INTERNAL VP

OPP | INTERNAL VP

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Both interviews conducted by Parisa Mirzadegan | ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Why do you want to be IVP? Entering my third year at UCSB, I have gained very good sense of what issues students are facing, whether they are incoming students, about to graduate, transfers, or any type of student. I have been immensely involved in the Association for the past couple years and have had the opportunity to sit on many organizations, meetings, and committees where I met an array of interesting and passionate individuals and staff. I want to be IVP because I want to make sure that the Association continues to flourish and develop well after I graduate. I’ve always loved the idea of student government and how students have the capability to make huge changes and a positive impact on this campus. For this reason, I have had a strong passion for improving UCSB and making sure that each student has an enjoyable experience here full of countless opportunities. This position would allow me to continue the great legacy that AS holds and continuing to add onto it and develop it so that new objectives are completed and implemented such as the development of a mental health peer program or the expansion of academic advising. I want to make sure that AS continues to collaborate as one entity rather than multiple different branches. I want this position so I can ensure that collaboration and communication is constantly being utilized amongst all student leaders. I love aiding individuals with their dreams and goals. I always put other people’s needs before mine and I want to see new student leaders come into the Association instead of it just being “that thing” that people hear about but don’t know. All of these things and more are reasons why I want to be the next Internal Vice President.

What is the number one issue at UCSB that you want to solve as IVP? How would you go about solving it?

If elected IVP, I have a lot of projects and plans for the campus. However, the number one issue that I plan to tackle and solve is UCSB’s image nationally. This seems like a very broad issue but there are multiple facets that are attached to this subject that I plan on taking on if elected. For instance, revitalizing Isla Vista’s image to what it used to be in the past; one of love, fun, and passion. Over the past couple years, UCSB has been hit with some harsh tragedies and they have affected our community. One way I plan on getting around this is collaborating with different entities such as OSL, the UCEN, IV Foot Patrol, and others to establish a safer Isla Vista community and continue expanding on the I Heart UCSB campaign in which we continue to unite as a university. I would like to continue dialogue with the Police Department to figure out some type of center in which

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This position would allow me to continue the great legacy that AS holds and continuing to add onto it and develop it so that new objectives are completed and implemented...

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students who find themselves overly intoxicated, can rest and sober up without the fear of being sent to the drunk tank and receiving a ticket that could diminish their chances of landing a job after college. Also, I would like to establish a Gaucho Identity in which UCSB students have more campus pride and they are proud to be apart of this community and always look after each other. These are only a few of the facets attached to aiding UCSB’s image.

What will you do to ensure the effective and accountable use of student fees?

The use of student fees has always been a topic that has been brought up during times of election.

With each UCSB student paying about $200 a quarter, student fee use is extremely important and needs to be watched carefully. I believe in complete and utter transparency when it comes to any type of student use. However, there have been multiple individuals who have used this word “transparency” but never really illustrated their plans to make these fees transparent.

I plan on making sure that the Student Fee Advisory Committee has a prominent role in making sure that all organizations and groups illustrate where and what they spent these fees on. I would like to have an oversight board to aid in this process because there are a lot of documents that need to be filed and often times it is extremely tedious. I plan on letting all groups to send in quarterly reviews the minute they get elected to their position and making sure they know how important it is to record everything they do. This would allow for accountability and transparency. Thus allowing for easier access to documents illustrating year-to-year purchases.

How do you plan to make AS more accessible and open?

One of the biggest issues that Associated Students faces is that not many individuals know who we are or what we do. It is vital that AS begins to figure out solutions to letting students know that they pay a lot of money to this Association and that there are countless opportunities to get involved. In order to make AS more accessible and open, I plan on being extremely active in the production of Week of Welcome and making sure that all incoming UCSB students understand what AS has to offer and what they can get involved in. I would like to put up more signage across campus that points to all the resources that are offered to the students that they pay for! I want to construct a pamphlet that illustrate all the boards, committees, and units that these students can take part in and begin making a positive change on this campus. Being open and relatable is huge to this process, so I will always bring joy and a safe environment so that everyone can voice their opinions and not feel scared to take a stance on what they believe in. AS is only as strong as the participation and collaboration of each and every student!

Why do you want to be IVP? The reason I ran for IVP started from the passion I gained when I proxied my first senate meeting my first year. I knew I wanted to be a part of the discussions and be able to make changes on this campus. I was given the opportunity to run as on On-Campus Senator with the Open People’s Party my first year and once elected I made sure to work hard to get my projects completed. My IVP at that time was influential on me because she gave me the guidance and resources any senator needs to be successful.

And that’s the IVP I want to be. I will give the senators the tools they need to be successful. This means meeting with senators during Spring and Summer to get an idea on what are the projects they want to complete and to set goals. I will keep them accountable and make sure I set my goals/ expectations and they’ll keep me accountable.

What is the number one issue at UCSB that you want to solve as IVP? How would you go about solving it?

Student Engagement. Every student pays $181.44 into AS but not every student is involved. This is a issue we need to address. How I plan on doing so is collaborating with entrepreneurial students and AS through a Craft Fair.

This means that those students who are selling their own products can come table at Storke plaza along side AS groups. This will bring a new crowd into spaces they’ve most likely never been in before. This will attract students to see what the other tables have to offer and give them a step into AS. It will also promote small businesses and help students use college as a time to work on their own business/products. The more students we get excited about getting involved the better retention rates we have. I plan on promoting AS from the first day new students move into the residential halls by having the informational flyer be a part of the packet RAs give their residents.

AS isn’t just elections or the senate. AS is YOU. AS is the boards, commission, and units. AS is exclusively for everyone.

What will you do to ensure the effective and accountable use of student fees?

If someone were to ask you to borrow $181.44 every three months, would you willingly give it to them no questions asked? Of

TBL 2014-2015 STAFF Executive Managing Editor | Marissa Perez Executive Content Editor | Matt Mersel Copy Editor | Andrea Vallone News Editor | Isabelle Geczy Features Editor | Deanna Kim Opinions Editor | Sam Goldman Arts & Entertainment Editor | Coleman Gray Science & Technology Editor | Mimi Liu Senior Layout Editor | Morey Spellman

Layout Editor | Madison Donahue-Wolfe Layout Editor | Mathew Burciaga Layout Editor | Maria Nguyen Photo and Multimedia Editor | Benjamin Hurst National Beat Reporter I Gilberto Flores Isla Vista Beat Reporter | Kelsey Knorp A.S. Beat Reporter | Bailee Abell Promotions Director | Audrey Ronningen Advertising Director | Parisa Mirzadegan

The Bottom Line is sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Opinions expressed in TBL do not necessarily represent those of the staff, AS, or UCSB. Published with support from Generation Progress/Center for American Progress (genprogress. org). All submissions, questions or comments may be directed to bottomlineucsb@gmail.com or content.tbl@gmail.com.

AS isn’t just elections or the senate. AS is you.

AS is the boards, commission, and units. AS is exclusively for ” everyone. course not! You would want to know why they need it, what will the money be used for, how will it benefit them? More students need to be critical of this. They need to be informed by AS, exactly where the money goes and is it being used efficiently. I plan to work with the President elect and Chief Financial Officer on creating a check on student fees. This means that any AS BCU that wants a reaffirmation or introduce a student fee must be checked by Finance and Business Committee. They will be financially analyzed to make sure that they are requesting the money they will use. By looking at past budgets F&B will see what is needed. The BCU can agree or not. However, F&B will be working with Elections Committee to make sure there is a pro and con list of voting yes/no on a student fee. We pay the highest amount in student fees compared to other UCs. By working and collaborating together we can help possibly reduce student fees while keeping the same resources AS currently offers.

How do you plan to make AS more accessible and open?

By making Senate more transparent through live streaming the senate meetings. I know this has been said year after year but I will stick with it. My year on Senate we had senate room reports where we videoed one senator recapping what had happened in the previous week. This year the resolution was shut down on video taping due to issues with waiver signing. However, I plan on learning how live streaming works and then renting out the equipment to make it happen. And I will make sure our first senate meeting is streamed. Also, AS needs to be accessible online by revamping the website. I will make sure the Chief Marketing Officer works during the summer to improve the website. I plan on having a project tracker where students can see what projects are being worked on and how far along the process they are. If a student is interested they can email the respective executive officer and help with the process. Lastly, most students don’t know what AS is. Like I mentioned before, I will collaborate with RAs, OSLs, and other AS entities to make sure all students are informed about what AS has to offer. I will also use Week of Welcome as a chance for AS to work along side residential housing to have more informational sessions and more tabling, to make sure first years and transfers always feel well informed.

INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY: Bailee Abell, Parisa Mirzadegan, Mathew Burciaga, Gilberto Flores

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF ASSOCIATED STUDENTS ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

TBL | Apr 20-Apr 23, 2015

3 | EVPLA CANDIDATES

PAOLA DELA CRUZ

BRANDON MORSE

OPP | EXTERNAL VP FOR LOCAL AFFAIRS

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Both interviews conducted by Mathew Burciaga | LAYOUT EDITOR

What do you think the EVPLA could have done better this year?

I think Cameron did a great job coming into the office without having a transition, and I think that was just really, really, really good on his behalf. It’s hard to be in that office, I was there as a fellow, and I see it now with Cameron.

But I think something he can do a lot better, especially around the self-governance issue—we both know Das [Williams]’ team very well and our local officials very well, him and I might have some relationships with them, and I think that what I would do better and what he needs to do better during his time as EVPLA is make sure that those relationships do not blur the mission and the goal that the EVPLA office has of voicing actual student concerns, even though they are his friends. And something else that I’d like to do that I know he tried doing is having a liaison to the Latino community, and I know he implemented this and had this in his office, but I’d just like to actually do a better job. I’m working with Diana [Collins-Puente] to try and form the Latinos in Isla Vista Association, and I already know some of the families, I know where it is that they live, and I just try and hang out with them, as residents. I eat with them, I come to them whenever I need some sense of home, so those are two things that I think he could definitely improve on. But beyond that, I think he’s doing an amazing job.

What is the biggest challenge you believe Isla Vista is facing right now, and how will you address it within the position you seek?

It’s really hard to say what is the one issue that Isla Vista faces. Our community is so unique. During my time here, I’ve just had an opportunity to interact with students, with residents, with homeowners, and it’s just—that question is really difficult, I’ve had this question asked plenty of times—the one issue, I don’t know, everything is so complex. There’s housing that is an issue, there’s safety that is an issue, self-governance is another issue too that’s important, so those are three major ones that I can name right now. My platform encompasses all of these different things. Housing is one thing that I have personally confronted my entire experience here, so in my opinion I would say that housing is one of the greatest issues we have right now that our community is facing. And what am I going to do about it? My platform includes housing as one of my major goals that I want to accomplish by creating temporary housing on campus. And the way that I want to do that is by transforming some of our spaces—building spaces—into sleeping spaces during the night.

This would, one, alleviate students coming to UCSB and not having anywhere to live during fall quarter, whether you’re a returning student, or you’re just a student who stayed here during the summer but did not find a lease, or even international students who come and literally don’t have anywhere to live. So that’s something that I plan to do, and another thing that I want to do is have a housing forum on campus, where we invite all major leasing companies. Families will be invited, parents, residents will be invited, students will be invited, and the EVPLA office will provide everyone with a list of our best recommendations and a list of just, you know, “This company requires this amount of deposit, this company requires this amount of money to pay for the application.”

And then, in regards to safety, a huge issue— huge issue—that I believe is as important as the housing issue is the sexual violence and harassment that happens in our community. Again, many of these problems that I’m telling you are experiences that I’ve confronted, but I’ve burned them up because I continue to see them happen with many of my friend and residents. That’s another reason I’m running for EVPLA, but what I want to do is launch a year-long sexual assault campaign, which I know has never been launched. We have borrowed campaigns from

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...What I want to do is create more sense of community amongst each other by bringing events like quarterly yard sales, or having photo booths like the ones [AS] Program Board has for students in Isla Vista.

FTP | EXTERNAL VP FOR LOCAL AFFAIRS

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other campuses and from even just Washington, D.C.—the “It’s on Us” campaign that CARE and the Women’s Center have launched in the past—but I want to develop a unique campaign for our community, and I know that this can happen and make sure that you see it throughout the entire year, not just one quarter.

And the last issue that I’d say is important is the relationship that we as students have with non-students, which I’d consider just community building and communication with them.

Because of my position in the Parks District, I’ve been able to see that students live on one side of Isla Vista, Latino residents live on the other side, and homeowners live on the west side of Isla Vista. And one of the major problems is that we don’t talk to each other, maybe just in my experience in AB 3 meetings, and that’s probably with just everyone yelling at each other, and what I want to do is create more sense of community amongst each other by bringing events like quarterly yard sales, or having photo booths like the ones [AS] Program Board has for students in Isla Vista.

How do you plan to address the question of Isla Vista self-governance within the position you seek?

I’m so proud of saying this, that I have been part of almost every single one of those meetings. This past week and last week I have not been able to, but other than that I’ve been to almost all of the AB 3 meetings, been able to engage in the dialogue that happens there, and I think that that’s the role of an EVPLA. I’ve seen Cameron there, you know, and I’ve not seen him there as many times as I have, and I want to make sure that I know everything and anything that is being included in this bill that can affect our local community and our students in particular.

And something that I will make sure that our office does is launch an Isla Vista self-governance campaign. I’m part of the Isla Vista Community Development Corporation, and we just recently voted to either sponsor or co-sponsor a financial feasibility study for self-governance, and this study will give us some sort of sense of, “Can our community actually have a community services district?” Maybe we can have a city, you know?

Maybe we can have nothing at all. Maybe it’s not feasible for us to do to stay with the status quo, then it will be my responsibility to advocate and to tell students what is happening, and I will make sure that we do that. I will make sure that we are sending out university announcements, because we can do that, we can literally host— I don’t see Facebook pages right now for AB 3 meetings, I’m not sure why, but I don’t see that.

And this is the way that we need to get students to interact with these meetings. University announcements, why are we not doing them? This is a way that we get students to go to these meetings.

So that’s the way that I would inform students and make sure that they are aware of everything that they’re doing, but I as an individual am in full support of self-governance. I’ve seen the county continue to underserve our community, and I believe that self-governance is the way for us to speak out and to say, “We are going to take hold of our community, and this is what we are going to do.” And something interesting, actually, that I’ve seen in these conversations is that long-term residents have come out and been in support of self-governance. So many of them, initially, they were completely against it, but after understanding what self-governance is and seeing that it is the most feasible thing that we can do, many of them are in support. And I respect those who do not completely understand. And something else pretty interesting is at our last few meetings, when we were talking about including the university, there were some people that said students should not be allowed to vote, especially freshmen—if we include the university they should not be allowed to vote.

You know that once we turn 18, as U.S. citizens, it is our right to vote, and when people say these things in these conversations, to me it’s not only just—one, that’s illegal, what you’re saying is illegal, but it’s ridiculous, and as EVPLA I will make sure that that does not happen.

At the end of the day, that’s one thing I think is unique to the EVPLA as opposed to the other positions is that there is an obligation to go into the community and to make sure that not just the students, but also other people that have businesses and property owners have their concerns addressed...

What do you think the EVPLA could have done better this year?

First of all, I’d like to say that I have a lot of respect for the EVPLA, but I definitely think he tempered his message in areas he really shouldn’t have. A few areas—AB 3, definitely. I think that we are losing opportunities right now: we have momentum for representation in the area. There is not only support from the local community but we’re also gaining support in Sacramento. I think that some of the concerns that have been raised against cityhood have some validity to them, but I think they can all be addressed relatively easily. We’re an institution of higher learning; we should be able to think outside of the box on some of these things. I think that [the EVPLA’s] response to Deltopia and Halloween as far as the relationship between the UC and the sheriff ’s department–while a step in the right direction–was lacking substantially. I think that allowing our community to be placed under martial law like it was is a poor reflection on his ability to come up with solutions that are based in rationality and logic–that are student-based solutions. I think it’s easy to go to the Board of Supervisors or go to the sheriff ’s department and rely on their experience. I believe I have a substantial amount of experience working with the County Board of Supervisors and the sheriff ’s department. I would not have allowed the MRAP. I would not have allowed the martial law: the fences, the horses. I would not have allowed that to happen in that community. To his credit, there’s limited power that the EVPLA has in directly challenging that, but I think that one of the biggest powers that the EVPLA has is organizing the student body and community of Isla Vista, which he didn’t quite do as good of a job in that respects.

What is the biggest challenge you believe Isla Vista is facing right now and how will you address it within this position?

I think that a lot of Isla Vista’s issues boil down to self-governance. The fact that the student body, as a whole, is increasing—as far as population density—here in the community of Isla Vista so we definitely need to improve […] our relations with UCPD as well as the sheriff ’s department. I think that we also need to be able to continue to open up dialogue between the temporary residents (being primarily students) and the long term residents as to why its in our best interests as a community to be able to self govern and not rely on the whims of the county as a whole. One thing I will do personally is go up to Sacramento. I will pitch the case in front of the committees, I have experience doing this.

I actually drafted the Liberty Preservation Act, which was signed into law by Governor Brown.

It was introduced by Assemblyman Donnelly at the time, so I’m well aware of the process and how to draft legislation [and] the amendment process and I think I have a fairly good argument and fairly good position on how we can become a full fledged city. The first thing we need to do is limit the cost of policing events like Deltopia and Halloween. One of the ways we do this is by establishing a 501c3 that focuses only on Halloween, Deltopia and other festivals. The EVPLA would have an appointed position that then would be able to coordinate with that 501c3, we

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would be able to petition the city as opposed to the county for the permits. We would be able to have this board be comprised of mostly students with maybe some of the long term residents that are here. We would have different themes for the events we have and whatnot, but that would bring money in. Not only would it reduce the cost of policing, but it would bring money in.

I’ve been in communications with Mike Lazaro from Carpinteria. His brother-in-law is the mayor and they do the Avocado Festival every year, and I was thinking we could do something similar to the Avocado Festival. There is not a huge increase in deputies that are there. They do rely on the community and private security to be able to police the event, and I think by increasing student patrols this will be that balance. With the legalization of cannabis coming in 2016, I’ll be the chair of the Santa Barbara County effort to legalize marijuana in California. There is a huge source of revenue that will be able to come in from legalization. I’ve been an advocate for 10 years, primarily for the medical aspect of cannabis, and I think it’s important to distinguish between the two. People who are using it recreationally I don’t believe should be penalized for that. We should keep medical cannabis tax free and tax recreational cannabis.

CCHI 2016 is going to be the bill that I’m going to work on and I think it has a cap at 10 percent for the tax. Half of it goes to drug abuse prevention, education and the school system while the other half will go to the state General Fund. I respectfully disagree with my opponent’s assertion that cityhood is impractical. I think it’s very practical and it is very much needed.

How do you plan to address the question of Isla Vista self governance within the position you seek?

As I said, I would personally go up to Sacramento and sit in on the committee process and talk to the committee members and be able to address their concern, specifically about funding. That seems to be the underlying reason Assemblyman Williams and the other advocates in the area feel it’s not practical. Again, I have to disagree with that. The city of Carpinteria is generally the same size and population density [and yet] it has five city council members and they have festivals every year that are successful without major conflict. I think as an institution of higher learning we should be able to come together as a student body and say this is possible.

Not only is it possible but it is practical. It’s practical to have students in control of these events. It’s practical for us to have an entire department that advocates for self governance that as students we should be able to take those ideas and ideals and put them into practice in our own community.

Besides going to Sacramento and advocating for what I think is missed monetary opportunities and addressing the concerns of people both on committee and locally, just going into the community and talking to the people. At the end of the day, that’s one thing I think is unique to the EVPLA as opposed to the other positions is that there is an obligation to go into the community and to make sure that not just the students, but also other people that have businesses and property owners have their concerns addressed and I can be a liaison or a voice for the students to that part of the community.

TBL | Apr 20-Apr 23, 2015

4 | ELECTIONS SUPPLEMENT

MOHSIN “#IWANTMO” MIRZA

INDEPENDENT | EXTERNAL VP FOR STATEWIDE AFFAIRS

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Both interviews conducted by Gilberto Flores | NATIONAL BEAT REPORTER

What makes you the better candidate for EVPSA? I believe what makes me the best candidate for EVPSA is the fact that I have a significant amount of experience working statewide with other students on issues like fighting tuition, tackling mass-incarceration and pushing for legislation that expands financial aid. My work in the past, […] this year in the University of California Student Association has meant that I sat on the board of that organization which has allowed me to go to board meetings at every UC where we coordinated campaigns, where we advocated legislation and where we have fought for the interests of the UC students across the state and I believe because it’s so important when we’re tackling statewide issues that need a strong push from students across California—like the tuition hike or sexual assault or mental health—these where we are most strong when the person advocating for these issues is can use those already built relationships to advocate for them. In addition this weekend I’m […] leading […] a delegation of students to the Student Lobby Conference in Sacramento as part of my job as Associated Students Lobby Corps director for state and national affairs this will be taking on 50 student from UCSB to meet with legislators in the capitol of Sacramento to try to secure more funding for our university.

Planning this conference and this experience in UCSA Board has given me experience in how to run an office and a team of people and it’s also given me the knowledge of the issues I really would need to be the most effective EVPSA for students.

If elected, what do you hope to accomplish while in office?

The question I’ve been asked a lot on the campaign trail is “What do you hope to change?” and my answer is that it’s very difficult to guarantee anything will be changed, because the problems we face as regards to college affordability are so deeply entrenched and difficult to solve that if they were to already have been, if they were easy to solve they would have already have been solved. However, I am still a strong believer that we as students can come together and be incredibly effective in pushing back against these tuition hikes, in protecting our Pell Grants and other financial aid, and in expanding our resources in regards to things like mental health. So I guarantee [to] every student on this campus, that while I, individually, may not be able to solve a problem as big as tuition, I will be fighting every day in that office for them. And I am optimistic that if we mobilize students, if we are effective in our lobbying, and if we bring enough pressure on the Governor of California and the UC Office of the President Janet Napolitano it’s possible for us to win a tuition freeze. It’s also possible for us to put enough pressure on the university on our own campus to change its policies in regard to sexual assault from one that protects assailants to ones that respect survivors.

INDEPENDENT | EXTERNAL VP FOR STATEWIDE AFFAIRS

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I guarantee [to] every student on this campus, that while I, individually, may not be able to solve a problem as big as tuition, I will be fighting every day in that office for them.

And I am optimistic that if we mobilize students, if we are effective in our lobbying, and if we bring enough pressure on the Governor of California and the UC Office of the President Janet Napolitano it’s possible for us to win a tuition freeze.

CHARLES “CARLOS” LOPEZ

...there’s no part of the EVPSA’s job that I haven’t at least had my hand in at some level.

What makes you the better candidate for EVPSA?

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What are some of the most important issues for students to be aware of regarding statewide policies and how will you work to inform students of these issues?

That’s a great question. Most students understand the biggest issues facing us as far as our university education, and that is college affordability. Right now the UC’s tuition is 300 percent higher than it was a decade ago. Many of us know students who have dropped out because they can’t afford to go here anymore, and many more of us know students who are dealing with crippling debt once they graduate from the university. One problem is that a lot of students see this issue and they don’t understand why it’s happening. So what I would work towards doing is to better inform and educate the student body as to why the cost of college is going up. I would do this by working with faculty and professors to put on a tuition take back event in a town hall style where students can get extra credit to come and learn the total history of the UC and explaining why fee hikes are common and what they’re rooted in from the history of state disinvestment, the role the war on drugs has played, the role UC mismanagement of tuition money plays, and everything else that creates this problem.

And this is essential because before we can have a mobilization of students, we need to understand the issues.

Based on your experiences with the University of California Student Association Board, what do you think they could do more effectively and what would you do to ensure that gets done?

My experience with the University of California Student Association Board has been very inspiring but also very frustrating. I think we really do a good job of advocating for legislation that is a benefit to students. Just this very weekend I’m helping lead a delegation of students to the capitol of Sacramento to do that. And when we are able to get students at the capitol telling our stories to legislators, making the people who work within California’s hall of power accountable to us, it’s tremendously powerful. At the same time, for me the past year, I’ve gone to long board meetings for the University of California Student Association, has shown me that coordinating of the grassroots campaigns could really be handled more effectively, because what happens is you get a lot of board members from every UC campus in a meeting where they discuss campaigns that everyone is passionate about, but there’s not a one size fits all for every campus. So what I would like to do is more regularly be in contact with the other External Vice Presidents that I’ve already worked with across the state of California, so as we can execute our campaigns to combat sexual assault, to expand mental health, to better fund the UC, to reform criminal justice much more effectively. This is not to say that students working on these issues haven’t done an incredible job, but most people, I think, who have been working on these campaigns understand that we have much more potential as far as coming together.

I think the thing that makes me the best candidate for EVPSA is–the best way I can put it is– just like breadth and depth of knowledge about the position and knowledge about statewide affairs. Last year I worked as a campus organizing director in the External Vice President of Statewide Affairs’ office, which gave me a really good understanding of how the office works, and I got a chance to learn the mechanics of UCSA and USSA from kind of a different perspective and it gave me a good chance to learn how to coordinate with other groups on campus around a common cause. In this year, I’ve been a senator and I’ve worked on a variety of issues as the chair of the External Affairs Committee, so I’ve worked on the self governance movement, I’ve worked on advocating for a gender and sexuality GE, among other things. As far as statewide affairs go, in that office though, I’ve worked with EVPSA Singh and we’ve written an Op-Ed that we gave to Janet Napolitano expressing our views and UCSB’s views on the tuition increases. I’ve also worked with Lobby Corps, I’m a liaison for Lobby Corps, I’ve worked with Lobby Corps to organize events, both here, right after the Regents approved the stable tuition increase. I’ve participated in rallies and events and lobby visits here and in Sacramento and in Washington DC last spring break with the United States Student Association. I also served on the Southern Commission for choosing the new student regent.

So I guess the thing that makes me most important as, well, firstly I would say is the experience which I was getting into, there’s no part of the EVPSA’s job that I haven’t at least had my hand in at some level. The second thing is that I think that one of my biggest strengths is that I’m good at understanding the viewpoints of people that don’t necessarily agree with me, which is something that you have to do a lot, especially as the EVPSA when you’re working on such big issues.

I think that gives me a big advantage, especially with the thing that was just passing through the senate, I went out of my way to meet people from different sides and bring them together, which is something that you really have to do.

I feel that the office next year has to be a little bit more focused than it has this year, and I have seen what needs to be done in order to get there.

If elected, what do you hope to accomplish while in office?

So the biggest things that I hope to accomplish, if I’m elected, is to create more of an understanding of a movement. I want to create a feeling of civic activism at UCSB. I’ve worked on a lot of voter registration campaigns, which is something that is unique to me, more than the candidates running. I find that people resonate with this idea that being registered to vote is just something that you do as a UCSB student. They take pride in that. I want to try to extend that pride to being engaged in politics in other ways.

So not everybody is engaged in politics in the same way that I do, […] but the best thing I think I can do is to convey to as many students as possible at UCSB and at other UCs that politics affects you, no matter what you’re interested in. So no matter what you’re interested in, you should spend some of your time engaging in politics and attending rallies and attending lobby visit.

I think that the way that we’ve become the most effective lobby group as UCSB I want to increase UCSB and the UC’s power to get what we want on a statewide level […] is to have as many students engaged as possible. More students going to rallies, more students engaged and interested in events, more students going to lobby visits. I think Lobby Corps should be a huge group, almost the way that, if you’re familiar with the accounting association at UCSB, almost everyone who’s in economics is a part of the accounting association. I think it only makes sense if you’re a political science major, a history of public policy major, you should be engaged in some way at UCSB through Associated Students or Lobby Corps. And then I also want to […] so I guess the biggest thing, that as a means to an end, the end being to prevent tuition increases. So the two ways that you do that are to, for one, we have to try to like, prevent the increases that are coming now, the five percent stable tuition increase.

What I’ve done around that is to, I’ve worked with Assemblymember Das Williams’s office.

We’ve created a coalition of some members of his office, students including myself and Senator Garcia and EVPSA Singh, members of the faculty association, members of the TA union,

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and we’ve gotten together and we’ve begun to advocate and lobby people to prevent a tuition increase. But the step beyond that, the next step on that, is to find a dedicated revenue source. It’s something that’s been going on for the last few years, it’s something that I’ve started to work on as a campus organizer my second year, it’s something that especially in the 2016 election with the possibility of recreational marijuana being legalized, that we could tax that. And we’re constantly looking for new ways to fund the UC, that’s really the biggest, to find that. And I also want to work to increase mental healthcare services in the UC, because the student service fee, which is a thing that the UC has, you know, tuition has gone up almost 100 times in the last 30 years but the student service fee is not tied to how many students are going to a school or how many new students are going to a school, so students aren’t getting the services they need.

What are some of the most important issues for students to be aware of regarding statewide policies and how will you work to inform students of these issues?

For me the most important issue that students should be aware of is tuition increases. It is the widest issue, it affects every single student.

Part of my platform is that, I argue that, tuition increases affect every single person in California, whether or not you’re attending a higher education institute. Because there is a lot of research that shows that every single time someone graduates, the economy of the state and the economy of the country does better. Higher education is one of the best investments that you can make and so we have to create a feeling that, we have to create an understanding, that higher education is not just for individual gain. I think there’s this feeling now amongst students and a lot of people outside of the UC that you as the student should be paying for it because it’s you as a student who’s benefiting. But in reality, it’s that you as student are benefiting, obviously, you make more money and you get better job prospects and things like that, and it expands your world view, but the state overall benefits from every time someone graduates from college and so I wanted to create a feeling, I want to create that understanding amongst the state. I guess I’d say the most important thing for students to understand is the systems that affect them, who their regents are, how the regents vote, who Janet Napolitano is, her history—very problematic history—why there’s only one student regent, how we can get more student regents, why the regents feel that they have to do the things that they do, which is because the legislature is not funding them at the levels that they need to. So I want people to understand these systems, but fundamentally I want people to understand that the way that we’re funding higher education now is not normal, that before 2010 the state paid more into public education than the students did. And I think that a lot of the problems that we face now is because that’s understood to be normal, it’s like “Of course im gonna go to college because that’s what I’ve been told to do my whole life, and I’m gonna go into debt.” Nobody really likes it but I think there’s this feeling that it’s unavoidable. I really want to shake that up because its not unavoidable and for a long time, it wasn’t that way.

Based on your experiences with the University of California Student Association Board, what do you think they could do more effectively and what would you do to ensure that gets done?

I’ve been involved with the United States Students Association since I went to the UCSA conference the summer before my second year. I think it’s a very good group overall. It’s a bunch of dedicated individuals who try to work on a statewide level.

FOR THE COMPLETE CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS, INCLUDING THE STUDENT ADVOCATE GENERAL CANDIDATES, GO TO BOTTOMLINEUCSB.COM