Candidate face off

With the ASPSU elections approaching, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates faced off in Wednesday’s debate to discuss the issues affecting Portland State and the goals of their campaigns.

Originally, presidential candidate Katie Markey and vice-presidential candidate Selina Poulsen were running uncontested. However, late last week, presidential candidate Jill Heimensen and vice-presidential candidate Johnnie Ozimkowski were added to the ballot.

Though they were allowed to participate in the debate, Heimensen and Ozimkowski have since been disqualified by the Elections Board. Their names will still appear on the ballot, but any votes cast for them will not be considered valid.

Markey and Poulsen represent the “Students First” slate. According to Markey, the team’s campaign has three main themes: student voice and restructuring, student dignity and student control over the services funded by the student fee.

In order to ensure student dignity, Markey and Poulsen wish to establish safe prayer areas and gender-inclusive spaces.

Heimensen and Ozimkowski are both current members of the Student Fee Committee, of which Ozimkowski is the chair. Heimensen assured the audience that their experience with the SFC and knowledge of budgeting processes will be beneficial, especially when discussing university restructuring.

Commenting on their top three goals, Markey said, “Our number one goal is student voice and restructuring because its going to impact every single student, and we want to make sure that students are going to be part of that discussion…Our second [goal] is outreach…a lot of people don’t know what’s happening [within ASPSU] and we want to make sure that [the student body’s] concerns are being brought to the table.”

In response to the same question, Heimensen said, “The top goal would be working with the university administration and the [Oregon University System] as far as the restructuring goes, and having two people at the table who have budgeting experience…is going to be a huge factor in how the students are going to be represented at that level.”

Heimensen and Ozimkowski’s other goals include cutting ASPSU salary costs and providing access to SFC-funded events via a one-stop events calendar. According to Ozimkowski, getting students registered to vote, as well as representing PSU students’ interests is also highly important.

“I would use the extra money in salary savings to co-sponsor events,” Ozimkowski said.

Both presidential candidates were also asked how they would approach university restructuring.

“The problem is that the revenues for the university system are going down, and [the OUS] has to do something,” Heimensen said. “However, students have to have a voice.”

Heimensen also said that she hopes to work in collaboration with the university, rather than protesting against it.

 Markey said that she and Poulsen also wish to work with university administration, while ensuring that students have a voice in the process.

“Selina and I are actually working with the administration on restructuring right now,” Markey said. “We want to make sure that everyone is involved.”

Elections will open at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 13 and will end at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20. Voters can access the ballot via their banweb account