Second-year Nutrition and Behavioral Health student Jada Aurellia Chaplin won the general Associated Students of Central Washington University (ASCWU) presidential election, as confirmed by the final election results released on Monday.
Aurellia Chaplin sat down to speak with The Observer about her primary missions, goals, plans and reflections from her campaign now that her position as ASCWU President has been secured. The following is a Q&A, edited for length and clarity.
Q: Congrats on winning the election. First, I want to ask about your campaign. What were your biggest takeaways from the campaign? What have you learned from the voters who supported you?
A: One big takeaway [was] it helped me understand how to connect to my students. I noticed that even though tabling can sometimes feel embarrassing for yourself or putting yourself out there, it’s honestly worth it, because that’s how you get the engagement. That’s how you understand people from the ground level, rather than just waiting for them to meet with you. So it’s really just being where the students are is what I really took away.
Q: What are your “day one” issues you want to address as ASCWU President? What can students expect to see first?
A: Yeah, so the first thing is over the summer, I’ll be working with my next BOD [Board of Directors] coming in, but first and foremost is setting expectations and boundaries with those people. I feel like we all need to have expectations for ourselves, and once we start that, we can be transparent for our students. I talked about building the bridge and being communicative, and that is something I’m working on. That is something that is a really big goal of mine.
The next thing is also building relationships with directors, if that’s going from rec to dining services, to health and promotion, and even my higher-ups I do need to speak to. It’s really just building those relationships first and that communication bridge, so we could start on a good level, and then I could start doing a lot of amazing things after that.
Q: Hondo Acosta-Vega, your predecessor, has maintained that ASCWU will have a neutral stance on matters concerning the faculty vote of no confidence in the university president. Do you see that stance continuing under your leadership?
A: Yes, being able to stay grounded and being neutral on things is the best, so we can understand stories. Biases cause a lot of conflict and issues, so I’d rather stay neutral on things for the better of my students.
Q: What do you think you bring to the role that is unique to you? What can students expect to see being done differently?
A: What’s unique to me is my empathy. I’m a very empathetic person, so no matter what you’ve done to me or others or who you are as a person, I will love you for who you are and your flaws, no matter what it is, and that’s something unique to me. That’s something I’ve grown [up] with and something that I’ve always had, and now it’s my opportunity to share my heart to the students, so I’m very excited to just love and respect everyone.
Q: You said in a previous Q&A that your “main mission is to make a healthy, loving campus.” Now that you have the role secured, what will your process look like for keeping true on that mission?
A: It’s really just connecting and supporting my Student Life Director. She will be doing amazing things, especially with advisory committees and making connections with directors. I will be supporting her on those things that she needs, but even in my own role is creating those relationships so we can start having those difficult conversations. If that’s creating another advisory committee for specifically health, or if it’s just having more opportunities for our students, or just more communication. It’s really starting on those priorities first.
Q: You’ve spoken with us about wanting to be a voice for the students so that you can address the areas of campus that need the most support. What are some of your ideas for ensuring that student voices are heard within ASCWU? How do you plan to communicate with the student body?
A: It’s really planning those things out ahead of time with my board of directors, so we have a foundation to start on, but then you can go into that communication. It’s like sitting down with my board of directors, like, hey, these are some issues and concerns I’ve been hearing, what are some areas in your office that you can address these issues?
So it’s not just one office addressing issues, it’s the entire body, but also just going on that social media loop of making funny videos, or even just informational videos. We’re opening up time to come into the office hours. [To say] ‘Here are my office hours, please come in, say hi.’ Mostly just have an open-door policy, so we can start having more engagement, and once we do, we can do more sit-down events or meeting times. It’s really just now building the bridge of that communication, so I can start doing those wonderful things.
Q: You also have spoken a bit about wanting to build “trauma-informed policies?” Can you explain for our readers what that means to you, and how you see these policies continuing to improve the campus?
A: So, what that really means to me is my first year, like I said before, on my campaign, is that I worked within the Director of Governmental Affairs, I was their assistant in the Civic Engagement Coordinator. I was the one down there tabling, like, ‘hey, these are some bills that are going on,’ if that’s for sexual assault or basic needs, it’s really getting people engaged with those processes of bills.
Once we go up to Olympia, we’ll be able to speak our opinion for those bills, but also supporting bills that are in the process of being created. If that’s a Title IX bill, or things like that, where it has my love and focus on things that directly affect our students’ mental and physical well-being. It’s really just supporting those areas, advocating for those areas, and understanding the processes. Since I have that understanding now, I can start doing the heavy lifting.
Q: What are you most excited for now that the election is over?
A: I’m just excited to work. I’m excited to start advocating for my students. I’m super excited to start meeting a lot of directors and people and start building those relationships based off empathy and advocacy and support for my students. I’m just super excited to start working. I’m excited to be busy, honestly.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t had a chance to talk about yet?
A: I just want to thank you to all the voters that voted for me. I want to say, your voice matters, and your voice creates sustainable change. I want to express my gratitude to every single person reading or listening, or any area of your life. I’m just super excited to start working for you. So, thank you.
Questions contributed by Brandon Mattesich
