The Observer sat down with all three ASCWU presidential candidates, in person, to ask them about their past, views and goals as presidential candidates at CWU. Each candidate was provided with the same ten question Q&A, the following is Hondo Acosta-Vega’s response which has been edited for length and flow:
Q: What inspired you to run for president?
A: I’m the current Senate speaker for student government right now, and as the president there’s a lot of things I’ve noticed internally that I think we can address. I think a lot of people have lost touch, and I think we’ve lost touch with what our roots are. I think we should be more active in connecting with the student body. I think we should be more present and be available. We should rethink how we look at things. And so I really want to be the president because I want to change up the internal barriers that we have …
There’s a lot of changes and challenges coming to campus, and I think it’s gonna take somebody who’s familiar with a lot of aspects of not just the university, but also with student government, to be able to address these concerns head on.
Q: What do you think you could bring to the role that’s unique to you?
A: Definitely experience. I’ve been a student worker. I worked in dining, I worked as event staff, I’ve been in a club, I started my own club, I’ve been an advocate for the student body in many ways and different methods. I’ve testified … I’ve been part of the Working Wildcats, I was one of their founding members and I’m now one of their advisors. So I’m really a big advocate for student workers.
I spend a lot of time trying to connect with student groups and reconnect them with us. That I think we’ve kind of lost … I’m familiar with every office position, every staff position. I’m familiar with the Douglas Honors College, familiar with SLICE and campus activities and their protocols. It gives me a lot of knowledge and background to set us up for success for next year.
Q: What would your priorities be as president?
A: Definitely supporting our clubs … I want to cross train all of our office staff to support our clubs, to give them more support … Priority number two is getting ASCWU back in person, on the ground level with our students. We spend a lot of time in our office, and a lot of people don’t even know where our office is or who we are. So that’s definitely gonna be a big priority I want to change. I want us to be back to being present. I want us to be collaborating with partners on our campus, especially with all the budget cuts.
Q: Do you have any past leadership experience, if so how do you see it benefitting you if you win?
A: Yeah, so I was the Senate speaker this year for student government. We’ve made a lot of good progress this year. Prior to that, I was the senator for the College of Education and Professional Studies. I was a really big advocate for my constituents in that area. As a senator, I advocated for them to help them get a new educational space post Black Hall reconstruction, which was not originally an option. Prior to that, I was a student worker for a while. I worked in dining as a student coordinator. I worked on the event staff, but then, prior to that, I was also the VP for the Residence Hall Association, for RHA.
I’ve had a lot of different leadership avenues and roles here on campus … and that’s really prepared me, because it’s given me ways to connect with different groups of students, to help them find their voice on campus, as well as it kind of teaches me how to navigate the conversations with the administration when things get really, really tough and really difficult. So my ability to do my due diligence, do my research, talk to my constituents to find out what they want … is a really big beneficial thing for me, and because of my partnership roles, I’ve shown that time and time again, I’m not afraid to speak up and say what everyone else is thinking.
Q: CWU is obviously undergoing a lot of cuts right now, both in its programs and budgets, how do you see yourself navigating these as president?
A: I’ve already started addressing this this year with the senate, first trying to figure out how to tackle what kind of events we can do in collaboration? We started partnering more with slice with campus activities, and we’ve seen really good growth and developments in that.
… It’s going to be first of all, figuring out what resources and availabilities we have here on campus, or where is funding coming from. I’ve been a really big advocate for our student media programs, The Observer and our theater arts … It’s going to come down to doing my due diligence and my research and figuring out what pathways that we have available to us, because ASCWU does not have the power to take on everything by itself. As the president, it’s my responsibility to navigate conversations with other people of the University and other members of the ASCWU, it’s not a one man show.
Q: How do you plan to represent the student body during your time as president, how have you already represented them in leading up to your campaign?
A: I’m gonna be totally honest. I’ve been stopped by students, random students in the halls, like, ‘Hey, you’re Hondo.’ I’ve had this ‘issue’ with faculty too. It’s actually pretty funny for somebody who usually keeps to himself, but I’ve definitely grown out of my shell with that a lot. And so doing what I’ve been continually doing. I’m always running from somewhere. I’m being out and about. I used to be, in Fall quarter, really in the office, but I kind of realized that was not my style. So definitely being back on the ground level, reaching out to different groups and connecting with them.
There’s some student government members you can say, ‘oh yeah, I know who they are,’ just by their names. But not all the student government, [so] it’s definitely going to be trying to be present and making sure the other members of ASCWU are more visible and present and accessible as well. I think that’s the biggest thing … We want to make sure that we’re doing our due diligence and honoring those conversations that we have, and just being transparent as well, letting everyone know everything that’s going on right now.
Q: If you were to focus on a main issue or topic during your time as president, what do you think it would be? How do you plan to protect students’ rights during your time as president?
A: There’s a lot of main issues and topics that I really want to address as president. You know what? I know it sounds kind of strange, but it’s definitely hope, in a way. Giving students hope, helping them find that community. Central has become a sanctuary for me, I came here to discover myself.
… There’s always a space for students, and as president, one of the biggest things is helping students find those communities, especially first years and transfer students, international students, it’s a whole new world out here.
Q: How do you plan to protect students’ rights during your time as president?
A: Like I said, I’ve been a big advocate for student rights. Whether that’s workers rights or media rights, I’ve done this consistently over the last couple years. I was there in 2018 when we got the Student Press rights bill signed, the law protecting student media programs from censorship from higher education. And so I want to continue that fire. I’ve been a big advocate for working rights, for the working wildcats. Student workers should have the right to unionize.
And I’m going to keep pushing that fire as long as I can, but definitely doing my due diligence. When the whole S&A list came out, I was very quick to read the meeting minutes, talk to the advisors, reach out to the students, watch recordings, and really kind of sit there and advocate for them … it’s really about taking action, I’m not waiting until June 16 to start my work. I’ve already been doing that work, and I want to continue that.
Q: Is there anything you haven’t had a chance to talk about during this interview that you would like to add?
A: I would really say, just get out and vote. We don’t really usually have high engagement with elections, but this is a really important year and [that’s] one of the reasons why I’ve been trying to get so much support and people to rally with me. I’m not willing to wait around. I see how people are being affected by these changes. My heart goes out to these students to know that I’m doing everything I can to support them, you know. But I’m just a student as well. I have my own passions, and I would want someone to advocate for my passions if I were to lose mine.
