Associated Students held its second and final open forum for presidential candidates yesterday in the Hub.

Presidential candidates Stanley Tzankov, Harrison Weber and Marcus Rochellle discussed their platforms and answered questions from audience members on issues ranging from budget cuts to A.S. outreach. Voting will be accessible through GOLD from April 18 at 8 a.m. until April 21 at 4 p.m.

Open People’s Party candidate Harrison Weber, a third-year history of public policy major and current Student Advocate General, said he would promote transparency and student outreach within the association.

“Most students have no clue about what A.S. is doing on campus or where their funds are going,” Weber said. “We need to streamline the information being sent out to our student population and provide a monthly or weekly report about where those fees are going.”

Weber said he would also seek to confront a recent trend of student apathy.

“There are significantly more people at the undie run every quarter than at the budget rallies and protests,” Weber said. “Gaucho spirit does exist, we just need to channel it so we can tackle big issues, like the budget cuts.”

Democratic Process Party candidate Stanley Tzankov, a third-year political science major and current off-campus representative, said he would work to implement the “core four” ideas at the heart of DPP’s plans for A.S.

“I will create solutions that make the most of our resources, utilize the Office of the President to organize projects and programs to reach out to our students, work on student retention rates and engage the administration, student body and local government to all work together, especially in this time of budget cuts,” Tzankov said.

Tzankov said his work reaching out to marginalized students prepared him well for the Office of the President.

“The budget cuts over the last few years have hit the disadvantaged and minority population very hard; it can be seen in the retention rates,” Tzankov said. “I have worked on providing an emergency loan service to disadvantaged and financially marginalized students. As president, I will appoint a Commissioner of Diversity and Equity who would plan events work on publicity.”

Bettering Our School System’s candidate Marcus Rochellle, a third-year political science major and current finance board member, said he would work on the smaller issues on campus as well as addressing major budget concerns.

“I believe it’s important to address the issues around campus as well as the bigger budget issues,” Rochellle said. “Improving the way we register for classes and expanding the wireless internet on campus are ways we can take measurable steps to improve lives on a day-to-day basis.”

Rochellle said student collaboration will be critical for devising realistic solutions to break the cycle of budget cuts that disadvantage UC students.

“The greatest untapped resource on campus is the students,” Rochellle said. “We need to harness the passion and spirit of the student body to address these issues with a unified front. We can let the state legislature know how much money we can make as graduates of college and how higher education really benefits the state.”

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