CalSERVE Releases 2010 Executive Slate for the Spring ASUC Elections

BERKELEY, CA- Today, Cal Students for Equal Rights and a Valid Education (CalSERVE) has released its executive slate for the 2010 ASUC elections. CalSERVE, the longest running progressive student political party, was founded in 1984 during the movement to divest university funds from South African apartheid. For a quarter of a century, CalSERVE has fought to make the ASUC a vehicle for creating progressive change on campus, in the local community, and at the state and national levels.

CalSERVE has fought for an accessible, affordable education that is valid to students.  We have successfully helped to register over a third of the campus population to vote in the last Presidential election, coordinated and won the state-wide “Count Me In” campaign for the disaggregation of the “Asian-American” category on UC admissions surveys, and successfully negotiated the Memorandum of Understanding with the University to create the Multi-Cultural Center. Furthermore, we consistently organize students to attend the Regents meetings in order to amplify students’ voice in decisions that affect us all.

This spring, the coalition will run current CalSERVE Senator Eunice Kwon as the Presidential candidate, CalSERVE Senator Lean Deleon for Executive Vice President, EAVP Legislative Liaison and CalSERVE coalition member Ricardo Gomez for External Affairs Vice President, and current CalSERVE Senator Viola Tang for Academic Affairs Vice President.

CalSERVE continues to play a role in creating a socially just and responsible UC system, by supporting campus diversity and accessibility, promoting campus sustainability, and empowering our student organizations.  The coalition is not only committed to fighting fee increases but also to educating current students of about the impacts of the budget cuts and fee hikes.  Academic Affairs candidate Tang aims “to use the various resources and networks of the AAVP position to guarantee a valid education for our students.”

External Affairs candidate Gomez states, “The CalSERVE slate is committed. This slate will bring last semester’s campus organizing for lower fees, greater accessibility, and better transparency to even more students.” As one of the first organizations to begin organizing and educating students on the 32% fee increase, the CalSERVE coalition has proven its commitment to reform public higher education by fighting for affordable and accessible higher education for all. As a senator, Deleon has, “done outreach to a multitude of student organizations and have seen first hand how the budget cuts have affected all of us.” As Governor Schwarzenneger’s Chief of Staff told the New York Times, last semester’s UC protests were the “tipping point” in galvanizing a conversation over the state reinvesting in public education.

Presidential candidate Kwon mentions, “I am excited to be given this opportunity to serve alongside with the rest of the slate. They are some of the sharpest, most passionate people I know. We are all working together to keep our university public, our education affordable, and our campus services student-centered. We plan to use our time in office to further these goals and to make tangible changes in the ASUC to benefit the student body.”

CalSERVE Co-Signatories Mary June Flores and Isaac Miller believe, “the CalSERVE Executive candidates this year have a broad range of experiences and qualifications that allow them to envision and build an ASUC that is accountable to the student body and that will aggressively advocate for students to our campus administration, UC Regents, and political representatives. We are confident that Eunice, Lean, Ricardo, and Viola will be at the forefront of pressing issues, leading and taking critical stances on behalf of the well-being of all students.”

Here you will find updates from CalSERVE elected officials and coordinators on issues that we’re working on!

Our elected officials are:

Ariel Boone
Lean Deleon
Eunice Kwon
Cynthia Nava
Rahul Patel
Chaney Saephan
Viola Tang

About CalSERVE

CalSERVE, Cal Students for Equal Rights and a Valid Education, was formed in 1984 by a coalition of diverse students around the movement to divest university funds from apartheid South Africa. CalSERVE members and representatives fought successfully with students from other UC campuses to get the University of California to commit itself to investment policies that did not support apartheid, successfully electing Pedro Noguera, a graduate student and now professor, as the first black President of the ASUC from 1985-1986.

Through the years, CalSERVE has remained committed to standing for its principles, even in difficult times. In 1987 and 1988, when homophobic hysteria was sweeping the country under the Reagan administration, CalSERVE ran the first openly gay male and female candidates for the ASUC Senate. Both candidates won seats.

From the beginning, we, the members, communities, representatives, and supporters of CalSERVE, have continued to fight as voices for positive change on campus and in the world. We fight for access, representation, and racial justice both locally and globally, using our experience to inform and guide our decisions and direction both within our community and within the ASUC.

With over 25 years of experience at Cal, CalSERVE embraces a multifaceted perspective on issues that collectively affect us. Our mission as a proactive student coalition is to address contemporary issues relevant to the campus community both inside and outside of the ASUC by ensuring that the university works in support of student rights and interests, even when it’s not the easy thing to do and even when it requires us to mobilize to change the positions of University and state officials.