The Beacon THE STUDENT VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND SINCE 1935 February 25, 2016 • Volume 118 • Issue 18 • upbeacon.com
Anthony Ng elected interim ASUP President By Rachel Rippetoe THE BEACON It’s been a wild two weeks for Anthony Ng. The junior environmental science major was elected ASUP president last Friday, Feb. 19, after a special runoff election following former president Khalid Osman’s resignation at the beginning of the month. Ng took office immediately, and his presidency will last through the end of spring semester. “I got elected on Friday, and sworn in on Monday. It was pretty interesting,” Ng said. “Grace (Holmes) swore me in, and then I got to swear a member of the elections committee in five minutes later. I was like, ‘This is weird.’” Ng won with 311 votes, taking 55.83 percent of the received votes. The other candidate, senior Bryan Chipman, came in behind Ng with 247 votes, 44.34 percent of the received votes. Campuswide, there was a voter turnout of 15.72 percent in the run-off election. Ng said that when he joined senate his freshman year, he couldn’t have imagined running for president. “I didn’t see myself coming near the Executive Board,” Ng said. “I was like, those people do a lot of work. But I guess my passion for helping students or representing them just drew me to the spot, and there’s no turning back now.” When Osman stepped down, Ng debated whether or not to run. He was concerned about possibly burdening the election process because if he ran, ASUP Secretary Joseph Rojo would have to replace him on ASUP’s oversight committee which oversees the Executive Board and the election. Ultimately, it was Ng’s friends who helped him make the decision to run. “I jokingly asked a friend, ‘What would happen if I ran?’ and they said, ‘Oh I think you’d be good,’” Ng said. “Even though the cons (of
running for president) were a little longer than my pros, everyone who I asked if I should run said I should.” Rojo is enthusiastic about having Ng at the helm of ASUP’s Executive Board. “I think Anthony is completely up for the job,” said Rojo. “I am extremely confident in his ability to lead.” Now Ng faces the challenges of an unusually short term with two key goals in mind: promoting ASUP awareness and campus sustainability. The junior wants to create an “ASUP Town Hall,” where students come to Senate and tell them their concerns, questions and comments.
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Hannah Baade • THE BEACON
Anthony Ng has been a member of ASUP Senate since he was elected class senator his freshman year. He hopes to bring ASUP awareness and sustainability to the agenda for the rest of the year.
WHAT’S NEXT? Applications are now open for all 2016-17 ASUP positions, including president, vice president, finance director, communications director, CPB director and senators. Applications are due Feb. 29.
Information about applying can be found on ASUP’s website: https://sites.up.edu/asup/elections/spring-elections/
I didn’t see myself coming near the Executive Board ... But I guess my passion for helping students or representing them just drew me to the spot, and there’s no turning back now. Anthony Ng ASUP President
Ideally, Ng would love to have members of University administration come to the meetings to answer students’ questions directly. He believes that these meetings would help promote the fundamental values of ASUP: listening to the concerns of students. He also wants to work on improving communication between administration, Physical Plant and students on campus improvements in sustainability. “The University of Portland is considered one of the greenest schools in the country, but how do students know that?” Ng said. “We see plants getting watered during the day, the compost in The Commons being thrown away because it’s too contaminated.” Ng believes that the most effective way to promote awareness about campus sustainability will be to create either a sustainability coordinator position in administration or creating a sustainability office on campus.
See PRESIDENT page 3