ASUO Elections This Week!

The ASUO, our campus-wide student government, will be holding elections for the 2014-2015 academic year in the coming weeks.

This is an important election for graduate students to pay attention to and participate in. Students will be voting on a ballot measure that would increase graduate student representation on the ASUO Senate. In addition, three GTFs are running in this election under the GTFF-endorsed Ducks Like You slate, which is supportive of the above ballot measure.

The new ballot measure will add three academic seats to the ASUO Senate, bringing the total number of Senate seats up to 24. Each Senate seat represents a proportion of the UO student body. Given the number of graduate students currently enrolled at the UO, this new ballot measure would then guarantee that at least one Senate seat would be filled by a graduate student. If an even larger proportion of graduate students enroll at the UO next year, there is a possibility that two of these seats will be held by grads.

GTFs Evan Shenkin, Camila Alvarez, and Martha Camargo are running in the ASUO elections under the Ducks Like You campaign. Shenkin, a Sociology steward, decided to run in this slate “because of how impressed I was with candidates including Beatriz Gutierrez, Tran Dinh, and Patrick Kindred, who exemplify the best qualities of academic life in their support for substantive inclusion, environmentalism, and empowerment of students from diverse backgrounds.” The Ducks Like You platform hopes to:

• Push the UO to divest from fossil fuel stocks
• Dedicate funds for STD/STI testing
• Expand counseling and accessibility services on campus
• Provide training to create a safer UO community
• Form a student tenant association to combat high rent prices
• Provide attainable resources for international students
• Prioritize funding for student groups and campus events
• Increase communication and transparency at the UO

The GTFF has endorsed Ducks Like You, and you can read more about the group on their website at
duckslikeyou.com.

ASUO Elections open Monday, April 14th. Voting occurs through your DuckWeb account  (under the ‘Student Menu’ tab). Don’t miss out on this important opportunity to increase graduate student power and representation in our student government!