Undergraduate Student Government election season is in full swing, and students on all campuses are on the campaign trail, vying for representation and control in student government.
There is only one platform for the president of USG Downtown, along with vice presidents of policy and services.
The presidential candidate, Jackson Dangremond, spoke with The State Press about his campaign, resulting in the following conversation, edited for clarity and concision. The full audio of the interview can be found below as well.
Jackson Dangremond, Jimmy Arwood (VP of Policy), Ernesto Hernandez (VP of Services):
What are some of the basic tenets of your campaign?
Dangremond: "Our slogan for our campaign is the phrase: "The Power of You." Our belief in our system is the idea that everyone can be an agent of chain. To accomplish that, most of our efforts for the next school year will be on empowering the student as an individual. The way we'll do that will be broken down into three categories: advocacy, creating a community of change and engagement. Our advocacy side includes things such as getting students involved with statewide lobbying support, continuing our efforts with voter registration, senator pen-pals and honestly just teaching students the basics of how a government structure works. Our platform will not work without a high level of engagement. Engagement is broken down into two categories — how we're going to engage student organizations and the individual student. In addition to that, we're trying to shift away from the amount of paper marketing we do just in an effort to become more sustainable."
What makes you qualified to hold this position?
Dangremond: "We all kind of had this call, because we're all centered on the belief that we need to put our students first. With that, I had the chance to serve as Director of Finance within USG. I worked with college administrators, whether they were deans, people in finance or professors. I was also in student government in high school. I really enjoy working for a greater cause than myself, and really helping promote the best in every individual. Ernesto Hernandez, our candidate for VP of Services, is currently a senator for the College of Public Service and Community Solutions, and is also a member for the Public Safety Advisory Committee. Jimmy Arwood has been extremely involved. He's an ambassador for the Andrew Goodman Foundation. Also, he headed Students for Affordable Tuition, as well as really provided the research for that organization to exist."
What motivated you to run, and how did your ticket get assembled?
Dangremond: "I really wanted to make sure USGD had adequate leadership over the next year. The face of our organization has changed over the last year in the sense that, we, in many cases, struggled with igniting the fuel behind each individual and promoting their wellbeing. I really want to make some changes to the organization, and that inspired me to instill new ideas of policies. It was pretty much my innate desire to always help the individual student, promote unity and essentially, just knowing that I, as a leader, could effectively engage students both professionally and personally. Jimmy and I have been good friends since the start of college. I, at one point, was a member of his organization. Working with Ernesto firsthand this year — he's a member of the committee I chair — he's always been very engaged within the meeting, and very understanding with the students. He really wants students to have the resources to be able to take care of themselves. It was just because of their passions for what they do and what they believe in, and we all have a desire to put the students' needs above our own."
Editor's note: Jimmy Arwood is a columnist for The State Press. He was not involved in the production, reporting or editing or this article.
Related links:
Voting Guide: Tempe USG Presidential Elections
USG Tempe votes to recommend $5 increase in student programming fee
Reach the reporter at Arren.Kimbel-Sannit@asu.edu or follow @akimbelsannit on Twitter.
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