Editor's note: this is the second in a series of articles interviewing Undergraduate Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Meet: Charles Ham, presidential candidate, and Chuck Lundquist, vice presidential candidate.
Major and year:
Ham: Business management junior
Lundquist: Communication and business senior
Web site: www.votechucks05.com
What makes you qualified to lead the USG?
Ham: I've had a lot of private-sector experience, and I've done a lot of management and worked on community service projects. We're students, not politicians. We're trying to bring student voice back to student government.
Lundquist: I've been involved in many different organizations at ASU, and I feel I have a wide view and can represent them. I have been in a fraternity for the last three and a half years and have served on the executive board as administrative vice president and treasurer, where I managed $300,000. I also helped design and facilitate a mock-DUI trial with Tempe Justice Court and the Rotary Club, and so I've always had the welfare of students on my mind.
What is your platform and why?
Ham: Our first issue is advocating a five-year tuition plan.
Lundquist: ASU students as freshmen will know how much [tuition] will cost in their senior year and can budget their finances throughout their college career.
Ham: Our second issue is more representation for student organizations.
Lundquist: With nearly 50,000 students there are only 27 representatives [in USG]. We feel that's unacceptable. Students that are still unsure of their major don't feel attached to their college which represents them. We want to add seats for the [Student Organization Resource Center] to represent student organizations as a whole.
Ham: Our third issue is a drop-add waiting list and online teacher evaluations. The teacher evaluations would allow students to anonymously review their professors and allow other students to share their reviews.
How much of your platform can you realistically expect to accomplish?
Ham: We expect to complete 100 percent of our platform. We're students, and we feel passionate about representing the students. We're advocates of change. The students expect 100 percent, and we expect 100 percent.
What would you do differently from the current USG administration?
Ham: They've done a great job, but we feel they're more political. We're bringing change by trying to bring government back to students.
Lundquist: The lack of publicity of events has been a major downfall. Students don't know enough about what's going on in their student government.
With eight competing campaign tickets, how will you distinguish yourself from the pack?
Ham: By advocating change; by being students, not government officials; and by using our real-world experience.
What are the weaknesses of your campaign?
Ham: The hardest part about our campaign is advocating change by trying to bring it back to student-centered government.
Reach the reporter at elias.arnold@asu.edu.
