ASCWU candidates introduced themselves and their platforms to students at the CWU Club Senate Meeting on Wednesday March 27. There are currently six open positions on ASCWU: President, VP of clubs and organizations (Ashley Klippert is running un-opposed), VP of academic affairs (Nicholas Mejia is running unopposed), VP for legislative affairs (Zackary Turner is running unopposed), VP of equity and community affairs and VP of student life and facilities (both of which have no current candidates). While there are four candidates running for ASCWU President, every other position is running unopposed, except for VP of equity and community affairs and the VP of student life and facilities, where there are currently no candidates.

The candidates that are running for student president are Brendan Dolleman, Dominic Choi, Jasmin Washington and Alejandro Alcantar.

Jasmin Washington, a public health major who has been the Black Student Union president for two consecutive years, and has worked as a sexual health educator at the wellness center. Washington wants to make a change in the way that CWU embodies the values of diversity and equity on campus.  Washington said that she wants to work towards making changes that can be realistically achieved in a year. This means that she plans to take steps towards larger issues such as campus parking because it is unrealistic to promise a solution to the current parking problems that CWU faces. She also wants to aid the Hispanic population on campus by giving a larger voice to M.E.Ch.A and have campus signs in both English and Spanish.

Dominic Choi stands for safety, transparency and value. In regards to safety, Choi pointed out that emergency alerts are not always reliable and suggested adding speakers around campus to quickly alert all students in the event of an emergency such as another active shooter threat. Choi has experience working in associated student body as a policy analyst in legislative affairs, and knows how diffic   ult it can be to try and change policy, which is why he plans to make the university more transparent by making it clear who knows what. Choi is also concerned by the value that students are getting out of their college experience. Choi said that CWU has some of the highest fees of any college, and wants to make sure that they are being put to good use.

Brendan Dolleman is running under the campaign slogan “Bridge the Gap.” Specifically Dolleman wants to bridge the gap for parking, entertainment and transparency. His goals to fix parking are to create a gravel parking lot near the ropes course, which he said will help alleviate overnight parking near Barto Hall. As for entertainment, Dolleman wants to bring a bowling alley to Ellensburg by sponsoring the alley through CWU or a third party. Dolleman’s third goal is to increase the transparency between students and the administration, by setting up bi-weekly interviews with campus administration and bi-weekly interviews between students and himself if he is elected ASCWU president.

Alejandro Alcantar wants to create a direct line of communication with CWU administration, saying that students shouldn’t have to create online petitions to ensure their own safety. Alcantar said that CWU has been growing for the last couple of years, therefor the university needs to adapt to fit the needs of all students. This means that CWU needs to fund more departments, financial aid counselors and advisors.He also wants to improve campus WiFi. In order to get the funding for this, Alcantar would like for CWU to become an official Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) which would bring in state funding. In order to become an HSI, the university needs to be made up of at least 25 percent Hispanic students. Alcantar plans to reach this goal by recruiting more from Yakima.