The Elections Commission of the Associated Students of UC Irvine (ASUCI) conducted its annual Presidential Debate over Zoom and was live streamed through the ASUCI Facebook on Tuesday, April 11.
In addition to the Office of the President, students will have the opportunity to vote on the four Vice President offices, the Student Advocate General and all Senate seats — except for the first-year senator.
Both of the declared presidential candidates, Jonpaul Cohen and Jun Jang, participated in the debate, as well as the public Q&A segment that followed. Notably, this year’s debate had no opportunity for candidates to rebut their opponent’s response after each of the moderator’s questions, which was different from previous years.
The debate was held and monitored by ASUCI’s Election Commissioner Leland Bartikofsky.
Jang, a third-year political science and Asian-American studies double major, serves as the current ASUCI Senate President. According to Jang’s candidate statement, he is running on a platform of basic needs, campus climate, student life & engagement, student success resources and transparency & accountability. Jang also serves as the current Commissioner of the Student Programming Funding Board (SPFB) and as a CalFresh advocate for the UCI Basic Needs Center. He previously led the now-dissolved Anteater Safety Net Grant Committee.
“Having been in ASUCI since my very first year, I’ve gotten very experienced with advocating for students,” Jang said during the debate. “My entire time at UCI has really been based around supporting all of you, the student body, and it would be my great honor to continue that as your next ASUCI President.”
Cohen is a third-year cognitive sciences major whose platform includes a focus on community issues, from housing insecurity to underrepresentation.
Cohen, who is from New Zealand, emphasized his experience working with world governments. Cohen also claims to have been nominated for a Pacific Island Youth Award by former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, which he cites as a qualification for the position of ASUCI president.
“I am really passionate about student government for the same reason I am passionate about most government in general,” Cohen said during the debate. “I’ve petitioned to the New Zealand government, I’ve spoken before the New Zealand parliament … These are the ways in which students like me, and [Jang], and anybody else here really can make a difference in ways that matter.”
A key theme in the debate was improving access to resources at UCI. Both candidates expressed the need for a focus on housing access and the availability of basic needs resources.
“College isn’t all that we thought it was,” Jang said. “Students go hungry, students don’t have housing, students aren’t able to find the mental health resources that they need.”
Cohen spoke on the issue of student housing access, saying that “Student housing is a [really] big problem.”
“I hit the ground running without housing this year as many students did, and the response that me and many students got from the Dean of Housing was a list of Walmart parking lots … People are in need here and there are things we can do, absolutely, to make sure they get the safety resources that UCI uses for any of its normal, official business.”
Both candidates also agreed that racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination are problems that need to be addressed on our campus.
Cohen, who identifies as Jewish, pointed out acts of sexism and racism, including antisemitism, on campus.
“You can ask any Jewish person from the U.S., ‘Which school is the least desirable for Jewish students?’ and they would answer ‘UCI,” Cohen claimed.
Cohen also said that he was a victim of hate crimes during his time at UCI.
“Last year, I was the victim of hate crimes on campus that I was pressured not to report by both members of ASUCI, as well as members of the UC administration.”
Cohen offered a solution to this issue, saying, “We need to form advisory boards [and] we need to form commissions that are dedicated to forming a budget and staff around the idea of investigating hate, not just against Jews, but islamophobia, sexism [and] homophobia.”
Jang also expressed the need for action on issues of discrimination, saying “Education and awareness is not enough. It’s also very important for the [ASUCI] President to take an active and engaged role in public safety and campus safety matters.”
Jang explained that the ASUCI President participates in the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), whose official purpose is to “[serve] as a link between the campus community and the UCI Police Department.”
“PSAC has great potential to [address] a lot of concerns that students have when it comes to racism [and] sexism, because it’s everywhere. It is a public safety concern [and] it is a public health concern,” Jang said.
Cohen also spoke on issues of engagement that ASUCI has had with international students in the past.
“One thing I found very striking is that last election, international student groups, for the most part, didn’t even know they could vote in the student election,” Cohen said, explaining that those groups believed ASUCI’s election to be state-sanctioned and limited to American citizens.
“As the President of ASUCI, I’d like to target those international student groups and make sure that … we have people that can speak to their classes, speak to their clubs [and] speak to however they involve themselves in UCI.”
Jang said that ASUCI can promote its image by improving access to and developing of campus resources that students most value, including UCI’s resource centers.
“Engaging with our resource centers is just another way we can highlight to students that ASUCI exists, ASUCI is here, and [that] we do work that benefits the student body in tangible ways,” Jang said.
One point of contention during the debate were allegations that the current ASUCI Senate promoted a controversial political organization in a campus-wide email regarding the effects of earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
“When the ASUCI Senate sent out an email endorsing donations to a not-for-profit international [organization] in Turkey, they didn’t check that this organization collecting charity is banned in Turkey and that any Turkish student that donates to the link risks being arrested when they return to Turkey,” Cohen said.
Jang responded to the allegations with an acknowledgment that a mistake had been made.
“Procedurally, I am the Senate President. I am required to sign off on all legislations and their contents … I acknowledge that there will be mishaps. What I think is constructive is to say that, the mistakes I will maybe make in the future, I will hold myself accountable to. … With this experience comes an in-depth knowledge and appreciation of how to talk with members of the communities that have been affected.”
The candidates ended the debate on a positive note, with both assuring that the future of ASUCI is bright and that their respective presidencies would increase the quality of life on campus.
Voting will begin on Monday, April 17 at 9 a.m. and end on Friday, April 21 at 5 p.m. Voting will be held via the UCI Elections website and will be open to all undergraduate students.
Rustin Roudi is a Campus News Intern for the spring 2023 quarter. He can be reached at rroudi@uci.edu.
