Bwog presents the third of three CCSC Presidential candidate interviews, with Voice’s Natali Segovia.

How is campaigning going?

Campaigning is going well. An interesting aspect of it is hearing perspectives of other students. It’s inspiring seeing people mobilized about Student Council that haven’t normally been.

What do you mean by that?

Certain groups on campus are more likely to be involved politically – students don’t usually go out to vote unless someone hounds them. I’ve approached Tracy to write a Spec editorial to get people to vote. We don’t have an electoral college – these are about as close as you can get to direct elections.

Have you received any endorsements?

Yes – the Chicano Caucus, Hispanic Scholars Fund, Model United Nations, Native American Council, and Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity.

What do you think your party’s strengths are?

All three parties are strong in different areas. Our party has representatives from every year – ’08, ’09, and “0-10.” A main selling point for all the tickets has been the diversity of their ticket, and our ticket is certainly diverse. We’ve all come up against red tape in the past as leaders and former CCSC members.

What have you done as a campus leader?

I am currently on the executive board of Community Impact as the Internal Affairs Officer. This puts me in a position, as a potential CCSC President, to navigate the bureaucracy; I have good relationships with all the administrators.

As someone with leadership experience, how would you run Student Council?

Something we’ve definitely talked about has been student groups – the Student Council meetings are open, but can definitely be intimidating. We would hold bi-weekly meetings – full Council meetings at which groups could make presentations. People have seen CCSC as a managerial position, not one with active accountability to students. Sometimes, it’s not about funding, but rather seeing what events are being put on by students.

What issues would you work on as President?

Advising reform is on everyone’s mind. Even at Columbia, you don’t know what direction to follow all the time. We’re all dynamic, we all have diverse interests. We would work on staggered reform; we would not seek to reform FYSAAC and JSSAC. We would add a advisory position that would be a liaison to the departments. This position would be geared towards freshmen, sophomore, and even juniors who didn’t know what they wanted to major in, and would take the brunt of the initial advising weight off the academic departments. They could provide syllabi for different departments, links to CCE for information on post-graduate opportunities. We’re also, I think, the only party to have dealt with health issues on campus. Our institution is very healthy but we have time and stress management issues. I was absolutely shocked that twenty-five percent of college students fit the criteria for drug or alcohol addiction. We need a holistic approach to life and health issues that is not stigmatized (as Alice often can be) and is very healthy.

On a different note, how did you go about making your ticket? What’s the significance of “Voice”?

I specifically wanted people involved on campus in different levels – people recognized by their organizations and known by students, and recognize student voices. We actually considered the name “One Columbia,” but we realized that it’s not just one perspective Columbia has, but many perspectives united under one voice.

-DPD