If you’re considering voting in the ASI student elections, I
strongly urge you to consider who you are voting for. This brief article is to
argue that students should not vote for Moses Menchaca or anyone on his slate
and I will tell you why but first I must be transparent and share that as an
alumnus of Fresno State, I have had my share of interaction with ASI and let me
tell you that the organization is ridden with discrimination, racism and bias
towards students of various ethnic backgrounds especially the student activist
that likes to question where student fees are going.
First off I want to say that I do not know Moses Menchaca
nor do I favor any of the ASI Candidates that are running as I do not know
them. Menchaca however is my focus of this article because it is he who I feel
has not live up to his own standards, or the ASI mission. First it begins with
the recent denial of funding for the Chicano Youth Conference that the MEChA
Chapter at Fresno State applied for. In his debate hosted by the Collegian and
Jesse Franz as the moderator, Menchaca posed himself as a champion of the
students and supportive of the student body, and we all know that the the best
way ASI can support students is by backing student orgs with funding, but most
importantly backing students that are being targeted by what seems like discrimination
specifically from what the VP of Finance person Rebecca Rosengarten. Menchaca
should have supported the students, (Jared Bertoni should also have backed up
the MEChA club since he is the Senator for Clubs and Orgs) by investigating the
wording used by Rosengarten when she argued that the funds were denied because MEChA
stated in its application that it was “for students of color to come” which was
her argument that it was discriminating. But who was Rosengarten claiming that
MEChA was discriminating against? Possibly towards students of non-color?
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| Rosengarten wants the public to believe MEChA's CYC conference was only for students of color. |
Rosengarten lied and as the highest position of leadership Menchaca
should have investigated her and pushed to reinstate and fund MEChA’s application.
Why? Because in the application submitted by MEChA, they stated that:
“CYC is a conference for students of color (not only Latino) to come and learn more”
Which is worded in a way that allows Latino (students of
color) and non-Latino (students of non-color) to attend.
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| Rosengarten "filtered" the part when MEChA included "not only Latino" on the application. |
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| Its usually not ethical practice to use your position in non-profits for personal gain |
Why then did Rosengarten leave that part out? I tell you why, because when she “filtered” out the words and got the results she wanted to present to the News and out in public, it made it seem that she was non-biased. I argue that she was. Keep in mind I do not know Rebecca Rosengarten, yet, Menchaca does. He knows how to contact her, fax, email, call or to even drop into her office; they are next door to each other. Why did Mencaca not look further into this? Does he not have control over what seems like the Executive Vice President of Finance practicing discrimination on how student clubs and orgs are funded? Does the EVP of finance run the show without question? Even worse is that Rebecca Rosengarten is an intern for the software company opengov.com which ASI student fees might have paid for the service in order to be more “transparent” with the ASI funds. Hmmm, did anyone bother to check if Rosengarten is violating the ASI bylaws and code of conduct? Maybe even non-profit law where most Execs that are paid through ASI fees (such as Rosengarten) must not use their position of office for personal gain? I think Menchaca needs to investigate this.
But there is more. According to Menchaca’s Facebook page for
his ASI race, he claims proven experience and proven leadership. I would agree.
In fact he seems to have proven that he has experience and leadership in
standing behind VP of finance candidates that are highly likely to engage in
acts of discrimination.
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| Warmerdam remembered to bring her mascot Indian to the slate |
Take for example his slate Students United, where Menchaca
recommends you vote for VP of finance Nicole Warmerdam. Again I do not know Warmerdam
but by navigating through her Facebook page one would find that she is in a
photo with her boyfriend Will Nelson posing in what seems to be her in a cowgirl
outfit and Will….well in a sorry mistake for what seems to be his interpretation
of a Native American woman? Could be a man in a costume but it’s hard to tell.
This does not serve as offensive to Nicole Warmerdam because her proven leadership requires her to ignore the massive amount of
Native Americans who do not condone the use of Native American, Indian or
Pocahontas looking attire just for fun. It is racist at the most, offensive at
the least. Her proven leadership is also aligned with that of Menchaca, which seems to say, just discriminate all you want, no one is watching. Who am i kidding what it proves is that Warmerdam, along with Menchaca have a lot of
growing up to do before they can claim to be representatives of all students which
include “students of color to come” to Fresno state.
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| How? How can you be so racist? |
Any student on the Menchaca slate should also be more
careful about who they run with as a leader of the ASI student government. As
an alumnus of Fresno State, I am not convinced that any votes should go to
Warmerdam, Menchaca or any of his supporters until they learn to be culturally competent,
sensitive and representative of the mission that ASI claims to be in alignment
with welcoming diversity.
Again students at Fresno State, do not vote for Moses
Menchaca, or anyone on his slate.
