On Wednesday, April 9, ASUI held an open forum in the Vandal Student Lounge. The event’s goal was to allow questions for the running candidates before the upcoming elections next week, which will take place April 14-16.
There were 11 speakers in total, including the candidates for president and vice president, Seyi Arogundade and Bryant Sitts, and Anya Zuercher and Arielle Hebison. The candidates for Senate — Julissa McDowell, Zac Knapp, Bavanjeet Kaur, Lance Butikofer, Preston Hardcastle, Jashanpreet Singh and Leika Devi — were also present.
The forum started with brief introductions from all the candidates and quickly moved into questions for all the candidates to answer, with many related to topics that are being widely discussed on campus.
One of the questions was how the candidates would react to students disagreeing with them. During this time, Arogundade, Zuercher, Hebison and McDowell touched on the recent ASUI decision to congratulate President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on winning the U.S. presidential election.
Hebison specifically talked about her choice to vote yes on the proposal, saying, “I was always strong in the reason I chose to support it.”
Some of the other questions allowed the candidates to showcase how they would utilize their position and some of their main concerns and focuses.
Arogundade and Sitts want to focus on efforts to advocate for student voices on a state level and help underrepresented students have safe spaces after the DEI closures. Sitts proposed taking students down to state legislation meetings to have more student voices represented.
When asked what change the candidates would want to make to the university, Arogundade spoke about the recent state-wide DEI closures. “I think it is important not only on a campus level, but a state level, that we fight for those underrepresented voices,” said Arogundade.
With their responses, Zuercher and Hebison focused on having students more involved on campus and with ASUI. Hebison mentioned having more casual open forums with ASUI leadership to make it less intimidating for students to interact with their student body government.
When asked how the candidates would make students of all associations feel more included, Zuercher mentioned providing funding for any student with an idea, whether they are part of a student organization or not.
“I don’t think you need to be part of an organization to contribute something to the campus,” Zuercher said.
Zuercher also touched on the two international students who recently had their visas revoked. She mentioned that she wants to make sure the dining hall is running during breaks for all students, but especially international ones who don’t know if it is safe to travel home currently.
The forum ended with the candidates encouraging people to reach out with any further questions.
Hilary Valdez can be reached at arg-news@uidaho.edu.