Edit: The asterisks are editing marks that I forgot to remove before pressing the “publish” button. If you’re interested, they are there to indicate that I have spell-checked a name (if the name were not spell-checked, there would only be one asterisk).
Four Three prominent figures within the ASUO revealed plans to run for ASUO President in interviews with the Emerald Tuesday night, well ahead of the March 11 filing deadline for candidates.
ASUO Senators Carina Miller** and Emma Kallaway** said they were going to run for the position. Sen. Nicholas Schultz** said that, though he intends to run, he will not be certain until he files of whether he will be a candidate. EMU Board Chair* Michelle Haley** said she plans to run if she chooses to attend the University next year. EMU Board Chair Michelle Haley, who has been heavily rumored as a fourth candidate, said she will run for an office if she chooses to attend the University next year, but has not decided if she will run for president.
Three of the potential candidates — Kallaway, Miller and Schultz — ran on the progressive Rock the Yellow slate in the last election, while Haley was the campaign manager of the fiscally conservative Oregon Action Team slate. Haley said in an interview Wednesday evening that the Oregon Action Team will reform this year and she did not want to declare herself a candidate in part because she did not want to assume she was the preferred candidate of the entire team.
Though the Oregon Action Team captured more positions in last year’s election, Miller, Schultz and Kallaway said that their similar ideologies would not weaken the position of the left in student government. Instead, they said, the mobilization of several campaigns would bring more students into the process.
“I don’t think the political spectrum of the ASUO will be important in this election,” Miller said.
Both Miller and Kallaway have been the targets of disciplinary motions filed during February, only the second and third of the year. Miller said that both the motion against her and the grievance filed against Kallaway are attempts to discredit their respective campaigns.
The motion against Miller was filed by Programs Finance Committee member Andrew Cox**, who is Haley’s ex-husband and roommate, and Miller said the grievance was filed to support people “who he is closely tied to”. Cox and Haley denied that Haley played any role in the writing of the grievance.
“I did it completely on my own. There was no one else involved,” Cox said.
Haley, who writes for the Oregon Commentator, said that her candidacy hinged on her choice of graduate schools. She said she was considering Willamette University and colleges in Europe in addition to the University of Oregon. However, she said that every member of the Commentator’s staff would run in the election.
“If we file, like, five or six candidates, the odds are in our favor,” she said.
Neither Haley nor Miller was willing to disclose the name of her vice-presidential candidate, but Kallaway said she would be running with Black Student Union President Getachew Kassa**.
“I want to emphasize that I’m running with Getachew. I don’t want it to be like we’re not a team,” Kallaway said.
Schultz said, if he ran, it would be alongside Sen. Lidiana Soto. However, he emphasized that his decision was still tentative, a point echoed by the other perspective candidates.
“All of us are still prospects until we officially file,” Kallaway said.