This is the third in our series of online interviews with candidates for ASUO office. Noor Rajabzadeh is running for Senate Seat 15 (Academic: Social Science), and today we feature her answers to our stock questions. On a quick editorial note, our obsession with the drinking habits of candidates does not prejudice us against Muslims, or anyone else who abstains from alcohol for personal or religious reasons. We’re just a bunch of raging drunks, thats all.

OC: What made you decide to run?

Rajabzadeh: My major is Political Science and I wish to make a stronger connection between myself and student politics as I have realized how important it is to become involved in student government.

 

OC: What would you most like to accomplish, if elected?

Rajabzadeh: Among many ideas I wish to accomplish, specifically, I would like to bring a change to the incidental fee system. Since the amount of fees we pay have been rising, my wish is to find ways to reduce them. My mission is to find alternative sources of revenue to support student groups and help campus life flourish and develop.

 

OC: Are you a part of a slate?

Rajabzadeh: Yes, I am part of Sara and Athan’s Campaign for Change. I wish to stress the fact that our slate is an open slate meaning that any student from the university at large could apply for the candidate positions and are not nominated by friends. This means that our slate represents the whole student body, not a select group of special interests.

 

OC: What makes you stand out as a candidate?

Rajabzadeh: As a Muslim woman and an Iranian-American, I’m familiar with the concerns of students not traditionally represented in the ASUO.

 

OC: What do you see as the most pressing problems with the ASUO?

Rajabzadeh: Members of the ASUO must take student government seriously and need to be held to higher standards. The leaders of ASUO must represent all students at the university as a whole and not just special interest groups. They must be held accountable to the consequences of their decisions

 

OC: What do the Academic seats (in your case, Social Science) bring to the ASUO?

Rajabzadeh: The seats will bring representation of the academic departments to the ASUO. In my case, if elected, I will be representing the Social Science departments (i.e. Economics, International Studies, philosophy etc.) in senate at the ASUO. Academic seats should represent the average student and his/her concern. Often this hasn’t been the case.

 

In this section we ask candidates to pick one from each of the following pairs, and provide a brief justification for their choice.

 

OC: Budweiser/Labatts

Rajabzadeh: As a Muslim, I don’t drink alcohol. The only thing I can do is drink massive amounts of tea. So if there was a choice between coffee and tea I would definitely chose tea

 

OC: Elvis/Beatles

Rajabzadeh: Beatles, they created a new wave in popular culture that has been timeless.

 

OC: Chow Main/Fried Rice

Chow Main, I love my vegetables!!

 

OC: Football/Basketball

Football, if it is European Football (soccer).

 

OC: Shia/Sunni

Please…Shia of course, just kidding! If I really have to choose I would choose both, being a Muslim myself I don’t want to separate Muslims from each other and contribute to the ongoing conflict between the sects.

 

OC: Whiskey and Coke/Rum and Coke

I just don’t like Coke…

 

OC: Beerpong/Flipcup

 

Hemmingway/Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald, his stories capture the simple stages of life, which are generally overlooked.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 12:21 by Niedermeyer and is filed under ASUO, Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.