Two candidates look to lead SFC: Aimeera Flint

Aimeera Flint

Age: 29Year: SeniorMajor: Community Development and Urban StudiesGoal: To make the PSU experience the best it can be for everyone.

Aimeera Flint wants to be a voice to help bring the under-represented and minority students into the PSU student government process.

The SFC chair candidate, who is running on the “Bridge the Gap” slate with presidential candidate Hannah Fisher and vice presidential candidate Kyle Cady, said she sees a lot of students with backgrounds similar to hers that are not involved in student government and other PSU programs.

“I want to be a voice, not the voice because I cannot speak for everyone, but a voice for why, and how, underrepresented and minority students can get involved in student government,” Flint said.

Flint who is a returning student, a mother of a 3-year-old son and is from a low-income, urban environment, says in her college experiences, she has learned that with education can come success.

“I am the only one in my family to graduate from high school,” Flint said. “I know the possibility to be successful comes with education.”

Flint has been an office assistant at a law firm, worked in banks and was an insurance specialist for Providence for four years. She has also worked with New Leadership Oregon, an organization whose goal is to empower female leaders. There, she said, she learned lobbying, political strategies and how to organize grassroots campaigns.

Flint has also interned with Independent Oregon State Senator Avel Gordly.

These experiences, according to Flint, have shaped her passion to reach out to others.

Currently, Flint is the secretary of the NAACP at Portland State student group and has worked for the Office of the President’s Diversity Initiative for one year.

One of the main reasons Flint said she is running is because “student government is not as apparent as it should be.”

She said she did not want to run for ASPSU president or vice president because, “[The SFC chair] has the power to restructure things. They have the ability to make more changes on that level.

To prepare for the job, Flint said she is talking to current and former SFC chairs and researching the committee’s guidelines. She said she is also talking with the Multicultural Center on how to make it more student resource oriented, as well as speaking with SALP on how to alter the roles of SALP advisors.

“They have so much paperwork, that they don’t have time to be mentors and leaders,” she said.

Flint believes that students and faculty will have a better experience at PSU with unifying dialogue, clearer policies and mentors that can help lead the way.

“Working with this campaign,” Flint said. “I realized that it’s about being passionate and qualified and doing things that will have a lasting effect on campus.”