What are the traits of a strong leader? Every year elections are held to decide who the new ASCWU president will be. This person will play a role in giving students a voice when it comes to all legislative issues on CWU’s campus. The question is, what kinds of skills does it take to fill those shoes? Presidential Candidate Eli Alvarado discussed his thoughts on that matter and how he hopes to serve CWU students.
Alvarado is a music performance major who transferred to CWU during winter quarter this year. When asked what drew him to the position of ASCWU president, Alvarado stated that he felt leadership came naturally to him. “I feel like my truest self [and] I feel extremely confident,” Alvarado said. “I also love to coordinate. It’s almost like [visualizing] little boxes that I can rearrange in a way. I can see all the things I need to do to make something successful.”
Beyond that, there are a few key reasons why Alvarado feels that he could serve as a representative of the student body. “I believe students deserve a president that is not afraid to ask difficult questions and makes sure their constituents are heard,” Alvarado said.
He highlights the importance of actually taking action when it comes to issues that students face and not making empty promises just to please the masses. In regards to his priorities, Alvarado wants to make sure to “not only include accountability, and making sure we actually do what we are going to say, but workers rights… that’s something I want to push harder,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado has served in several leadership positions previously, including both the vice presidential and presidential positions of the community service club at his high school, which allowed him to participate and connect with others regarding how best to serve the student community. “I was also part of a network committee where me and other student leaders could network and talk about ways to better serve our constituents and just overall grow our leadership experiences,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado clarifies that there’s more to leadership than just naturalness and past experiences, which is a desire to help. “On a personal level, I really care about people,” he said. “Especially student workers. My parents are immigrants and so they started from literally zero to where they are now.”
Alvarado went on to say that a big goal of his is to fight against discrimination in campus workplaces, citing specifically racism, sexism and homophobia. “Our mission is that we have equity and belonging in every single one of our facets,” Alvarado said. To Alvarado, the best learning can only be done in a place in which every student feels a sense of belonging and comfortableness, and one of his plans to do that is by establishing a multicultural center.
“We’re soon going to be turning into a Hispanic serving institution, we need those spaces to facilitate our people who come from diverse backgrounds,” Alvarado said. “Making sure that’s a priority is important to me.” Outside of his focus on equity, workers’ rights and accountability, Alvarado has other plans for CWU that he thinks will be of benefit to the student body. Chief among these plans is more direct communication, particularly between students and administration.
“I also want to create a president’s roundtable, maybe every month or every quarter, to make sure that the student leaders here at Central have a mic,” Alvarado said. “A time that they can go and say what they need to say to our board of directors and other student leaders to not only network but feel like they have support in their initiatives.”
However his priorities also extend beyond political ventures, expressing a desire to make CWU a place where families can feel part of their students’ learning experience. “I also want to bring back family weekends,” Alvarado said.
He details that, as a Hispanic student, family is very important to him. He wants to ensure that there’s time for families to get to see their children and experience the institution where their education is taking place.
“I think that’s important because it would make Central feel like a family college,” Alvarado said. Other goals he would like to pursue are the opening of more gender-neutral bathrooms around campus and supporting departments that may be negatively impacted by monetary issues, such as budget cuts.
Alvarado also acknowledges that music performance isn’t usually a major you see paired with student government, but he feels that there are some places where performance and leadership intersect with each other.
“When you’re in these positions of power, everything is kind of a performance,” Alvarado said. Clarifying that he doesn’t mean being a leader is performative, Alvarado highlighted that skills such as public speaking and debate have elements of performance to them. “That’s a lot of performing, that’s a lot of learning how to speak eloquently enough to convey a message,” Alvarado said.
He also added that building an image for oneself can be very performative, but that he feels he doesn’t need to build an artificial picture of himself to present to the student body. “I don’t have to work to create an image for myself because I feel other people see me as someone who will fight for them and will push for the things they want,” Alvarado said.
