Vote Harris Foster for student body president

The race for Associated Students of Portland State University president and vice president offers a choice between current ASPSU Sen. Harris Foster and running mate Yesenia Silva-Hernandez and current ASPSU Sen. and student fee committee member James Au and his running mate Jason Phung.

Both presidential candidates have served as ASPSU senators for the past two years, and as ASPSU interns before that. An initial scan of their platforms reveals few if any major policy differences: Both want to increase student participation and reach out to student groups, and both think tuition is too high.

Unlike last year, when the presidential/vice-presidential race featured clear, often divisive differences and robust debate, the choice between Foster and Au can feel like a choice between two flavors of vanilla ice cream: Sure, they tout all sorts of fundamental differences, but in the end it’s awfully hard to tell the difference.

The presidential debate on April 18 was an opportunity for each candidate to carve out a distinct platform of his own; it’s an instructive 80 minutes if you’ve got the time. (For the roughly 29,980 PSU students who didn’t attend, the debate can be streamed at aspsu.pdx.edu/elections-2013.html.)

From the outset, Au seemed overwhelmed and flustered, like a sixth-grader who’d forgotten his homework. When asked what specific ideas or issues he’d like to address with the administration, Au responded, “At the moment, I don’t really have any ideas that I’d want to be brought to the administrators. I definitely agree with Harris that there are changes that need to be done.”

Au went back to “I agree with Harris” numerous times, while Foster, to his credit, exuded competence and a firm grasp of the issues. Au, on the other hand, seemed to feel that all campus problems could be addressed by big gatherings with free food.

“Everybody loves free food,” Au said, which is undoubtedly true.

But increasing the number of large, campus-wide events—and stocking the pantry for each of them—raised some red flags considering Au is a member of the organization budget council, which earlier this year “approved too many expenditures by student groups, causing a relative lack of funding in 2013’s spring term,” as the moderator noted.

We at the Vanguard appreciate a good cheese-and-cracker plate as much as the next campus publication, but throwing cheese at the wall and seeing if it sticks is not a viable presidential approach.

The final question of the debate addressed the vanilla-ice-cream dilemma directly: The two candidates were asked to explain the differences between their campaigns.

Foster answered directly and succinctly, citing his ongoing work on reforming PSU’s arrangement with financial aid service Higher One, his goal of implementing a campus “Good Samaritan” law that would prevent students who are seeking alcohol- or drug-related medical attention for friends from being prosecuted, and increased collaboration with campus student groups.

In response, Au articulated the differences between the two campaigns thus: “Harris is really specific, and I love all of the causes that he’s going toward, but…I have more of a big-picture approach to all of my campaign ideas. I didn’t really write out specific plans on how to initiate them because I personally believe that we’re here to support causes, not plans, because plans change.”

In this year’s ASPSU presidential and vice-presidential campaign, the Vanguard supports Harris Foster, a man with a plan. Or, say, a carton of vanilla ice cream that actually lists its ingredients.