UCS/UFB Debate 2019

Held at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (which I just now learned is the name of the building at 85 Waterman St.), this year’s UCS/UFB Debate featured run-of-the-mill platform introductions, a Q&A section, and a presentation of four bottles filled with frighteningly colored water. For those of you who chose not to spend your Sunday night in a dimly lit lecture hall, Blog has got your back. Before voting on Qualtrics (open from Tuesday, March 19th at 12 p.m. to Thursday, March 21 at 12 p.m.), check out this breakdown so you can make an informed decision. 

UNDERGRADUATE COUNCIL OF STUDENTS

PresidentVanessa Garcia: As the current UCS Secretary (serving on Academic Affairs and Wellness), Vanessa Garcia is running on a platform of accessibility and inclusion, community engagement, and campus wellness. At Sunday's debate, Garcia talked with honesty and vulnerability, speaking about her own lived experience as a student who has spent semesters on medical leaves and continues to live with seven diagnosed disorders. From the very opening of their speech, Garcia acknowledged their visible hand tremors, a refreshingly straight-up way to destigmatize their own experiences with wellbeing. They are committed to addressing the issues they have faced at Brown themselves, and are determined to do so by uplifting and empowering members of our community who have not been historically included. They prioritize relevant and convenient communication with the student body and offerred social media as a means of organization and discussion. They hope to communicate with the student body in informal, personal ways, working within our current systems to standardize transparency, ethics, and solidarity.  Melissa Lee: Melissa Lee is a junior concentrating in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations and currently serves as the Vice President of the Class Coordinating Board. Lee came to Sunday's debate with palpable passion and excitement, and, seated at the very back of the lecture hall, this reporter very much appreciated the volume and resonance of her voice. During her portion of the debate, Lee discussed her detailed plan to make UCS a more accessible, relevant presence on Brown’s campus. Namely, she hopes to restructure the Council so that every general body member serves as a liaison to student organizations and all UCS officers hold office hours during which students can get more directly involved with UCS. If elected, Lee would also work with Brown CIS to incorporate all student needs in the new Brown app (!!!), which will come out sometime next year. William Zhou: As the current Vice President of UCS, WIlliam Zhou has prioritized increasing UCS's representation both through campus-wide outreach events and personal outreach to student organizations. If elected, Zhou would aim to increase financial transparency and provide more aid to low and middle income families. As a Meiklejohn, he has experience communicating with students on an individual basis, and at the debate, he stressed his genuine passion and care for the Brown community. Overall, Zhou hopes to collaborate with the student body and administration to make UCS a more proactive, accountable, and innovative resource. He also has great hair.  Vice PresidentAlex Song: Alex Song is a junior studying Biology and Economics. He has been involved with UCS since his first semester at Brown, and now serves as the Student Activities Committee Chair. Song's goals include establishing more communication with incoming first-year students, fostering collaboration and communication between students groups through initiatives such as UCS Office Hours, and prioritizing student voices as the catalyst for change. In his closing statement, Song spoke to his campaign team and highlighted that if students choose not to vote for him, they wouldn't be wrong to choose another candidate. While other candidates voiced similar sentiments, Song specifically illustrated his passion for campus improvement and collaboration with the message that a vote for any candidate is, at the very least, a concrete sign of student engagement in institutional decision making.  Jason Carroll: If you’ve been wondering about the water bottles mentioned earlier, Jason Carroll is your answer. Carroll showed up to the debate toting four examples of water collected from across campus, garnering a wave of laughter from the audience, followed by shock and disgust. As Carroll said right off the bat, if we don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water, how are we supposed to trust our administration to provide any other institutional resources? Carroll is a sophomore studying international relations and “the proud son of a single mother.” As the current UCS Appointments Chair, he has dedicated himself to community outreach, covering every corner of campus, including but not limited to Black Student Union, the Brown Center for Students of Color, and the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center. Carroll spoke casually, often prompting laughter, but also powerfully when it came to UCS structural issues, community engagement, and student protection. When asked how he approaches self-care, Carroll first replied, “That’s a really cute question,” and then answered with an assortment of both lighthearted and serious strategies, including spending time with friends, working out, drinking clean water, and attending sessions at CAPS. Part of why he hopes to expand student resources, Carroll says, is because he uses and relies on those very resources himself.   

UNDERGRADUATE FINANCE BOARD

ChairJulian De Georgia: Julian De Georgia is a junior from Cleveland, Ohio concentrating in Applied Math (meaning his interest in the Finance Board is pretty on-brand). As the current Vice Chair of UFB, De Georgia built UFB’s first independent website, created a financial-aid fund for low-income students, and published the Board’s first report detailing the ways in which they allocate funds. De Georgia wants to address the frustration and discouragement student groups face from not understanding UFB’s purpose and process, and has three foci going forward: he plans to advocate for more communication with the student body, cultivate a more innovative and considerate Board, and enforce greater financial transparency. Every student pays into this fund, De Georgia said, so we all deserve to know how our money is being spent. De Georgia hopes to expand UFB’s online and campus presence, streamline the mind-boggling resources we already have (i.e. OrgSync), send out regular surveys asking for student opinions, and set up tables at the Blue Room for drop-in conversations with students (thus increasing UFB transparency while also making your odds of finding a free booth even lower, which you probably didn't think was possible). Alesandro Walker: As a member of UFB for the past three years and the current Vice President of the Black Student Union, Alesandro Walker is running for UFB chair in order to increase accessibility and equity. Walker hopes to institute a training program to educate student groups on UFB’s process so that they can understand and feel more prepared for the Board’s process. He strives to help groups beyond his responsibilities as a representative and wants to establish financial aid funds that will continue into the future. For example, if elected, Walker would work with the Student Activities Office and Brown Concert Agency to increase financial aid for Spring Weekend, so that every student is able to enjoy whoever this year’s lineup is (...Caribbean music…?). Vice ChairPhillip Champagne: Welcome to the Champagne Campaign! Phillip Champagne is a sophomore studying Political Science who understands that every student on campus wants to be a part of a thriving, equitable community. At the debate, he called for increased transparency and clear communication, which he says he would achieve through collaboration with students and a redesigned OrgSync. Champagne wants to increase communication with the student body and his plan for doing so involves the establishment of a regular check-in system as opposed to the single surveys sent at the end of the year, when it’s too late to make any real changes. In closing, Champagne acknowledged his opponents, saying that the debate had been a fun way to discuss ideas and give face to policy, voicing attitudes which he said he would continue to foster as Vice Chair. Peter Deegan: “Who’s satisfied with the way Brown spends money?” Peter Deegan began. When he received no response (save for a quiet ripple of laughter), he continued, outlining his goals to restructure UFB in order to prioritize funding for students who have the highest financial need. Rather than allocating funds equally across student groups, Deegan hopes to adopt a “Brown Outing Club model,” asking students to anonymously express how much financial support they actually need. He is running on an outreach-based platform, with the specific hope to increase funding for cultural groups so that every student can feel at home on campus. Fatoumata Kabba: Fatoumata Kabba, who goes by Fatou, is a first-year who originally joined UFB in order to add her voice to a conversation that didn't exist at her high school. Now, she wants to do more; to increase transparency, she plans to establish a online portal where students can trace funding allocations. She also hopes to expand financial aid for students who want to attend conferences out of state. If elected, Kabba said, she will go beyond simply listening to students — she will strive to make change so that historically marginalized and excluded voices feel included in UFB. Rather than outsourcing change by creating more committees and organizations, Kabba wants to tackle these issues head on. She’s not here for votes, she said, she’s here because she truly believes in strengthening UFB as a resource for all students on campus. If you didn’t know what UCS and/or UFB were before reading this article, you’re not alone. At the debate on Sunday, each candidate stressed their desire to expand their organizations' presence on campus so that all students will be involved in decisions that affect their everyday lives — and furthermore, that we'll actually understand the processes behind these decisions.  Voting opens tomorrow, March 19th, at 12 p.m., so keep your eyes peeled for an email with a link to the ballot and don't forget to vote! Image via.