2001-02 Elections Coverage
Nilda Brooklyn & Joy Nair
The Oregon Commentator interviewed Nilda Brooklyn on 02/20/01.OC: In ten words or less, how would you describe your campaign?
We're the only women on the ticket; we have the most experience working together.(ed. note: We are aware this reply contains more than ten words. We may be writers, but we can still count.)
OC: Diversity is always a big issue on campus. What is your position on diversity and how would your administration handle the issue?
Both me and Joy's current positions in the ASUO work exclusively with diversity issues. She's the recruitment retention coordinator and I'm the multicultural advocate. So for the last two years that has basically been our main focus on campus. We choose not to put it on our platform because everyone does and it is pretty much lip service to 'I'm going to personally diversify a campus.' Mainly our position is that the administration has written plan after plan after plan for about the last ten years, and there's blueprints for what you actually need to do to physically diversify a campus. And they just haven't put any money into it and they haven't put any time into it. And so, students have been stuck in the committee process of talking about plans and how they're going to write another plan that already exists. I think that the committee process is kind of dead, and it needs to move on. The administration needs to put their money where there mouth is.
OC:What is your position with regard to the funding of OSPIRG?
I think it's great. I support any organization that hires staff that advocates for student needs-that advocates student leadership on a statewide level and at the university. Students on this campus compete with stadiums, compete with law buildings to have staff that is here to help us, I think is really valuable.
OC:Every year, candidates for ASUO office contend that student government can and will serve the majority of students on campus. Every year, this never actually happens. Is this possible, or is it just an empty promise that everyone makes?
I think the ASUO makes the mistake of holding events that students have to come to. I know that I could physically spend every single hour on this campus going to an event, and I think that it is not fair to ask the average students to come to the Ballroom at five o'clock on Saturday. I think the ASUO could serve more students by being where students are-why don't they hold events on the corner of 13th and University-why don't you hold events where students don't have to take time out of their schedule to come and meet you-you take the time to out of your schedule to go and meet them. And also, [many] think that the ASUO is for undergraduates only, and I don't think that the undergrad experience is necessarily the universal experience. So just talking with graduate students, law school students-I know this sounds like 'Oh, I'm going to do everything,' I know I'm only one person. My experience on this campus is not how everyone else experiences it, and so I need to talk with people who have different experiences and see what they need.
OC: What efforts would you make to control the costs of attending the university associated with tuition and incidental fees?
Next year won't be a legislative session, but it's something we can work on. Since I would only have one year, I could work on a tuition freeze for the next biennium. There is a 4 percent tuition increase that is going to happen. The unfortunately thing is when tuition increases 1 percent it means that one hundred cannot access the university. I think just working realistically that student needs are always presented at a state level. Now more than ever students are seen not just as a disposable income, but as voting citizens and we'll vote you out if you don't listen to our needs.
OC: We're through with our questions, so this is your forum to tell us what you're going to do with your administration next year.
I think one really big thing for me is the party ordinance that was recently passed that basically targets students. So do you know who Bonny Bettman is? She is elected to serve us and she screwed us over. Other city councilor people were voting against her little... Betty Taylor, I totally love her. My feeling is that she either needs to get on the student page or she needs to be recalled. I'm really committed to working on that because I don't support anything that targets anyone. Economic harassment could become the next issue. Another thing is a housing code. It's ridiculous. Eugene? No housing code? I live in a shack. I don't need to pay $21,000 and then $900 to breathe bad air, to have no heat. So definitely a housing code. I think just kind of question the ASUO outreach, every year we're going to be a friend of the student, and then we end up being kind of cliquey. It's sad that people know where the ASUO because we say we're near Club Sports. I think is should be vice-versa. Just protecting student fees, making sure that it is student controlled. I think the student fee seems like a mystical thing-that we give money and it just kind of floats around-making sure that students know what they're paying for and what they can get out of it.