Zhong and Tran Push Equity and Accessibility in ASuop Presidential Platform

ASuop election season has taken the Stockton campus by storm. With signature campaigns, debates, and social mixers monopolizing Pacific campus life, keeping track of each candidate and their platforms has become a challenge. So, let’s break down what each platform wants to do and why they’re qualified to do it.

This article focuses on Angel Zhong and Brooke Tran’s platform. For info on the Shah/Gomez campaign, follow the link to our other article breaking down their goals and qualifications.

Angel Zhong is a third-year Psychology and English double-major with minors in Writing and Ethnic Studies and is running for the President’s ticket. She previously served as a ASuop Associate Supreme Court Justice, an ASuop Senator-at-Large, and is currently serving as the ASuop Director of DEI.

Her running mate, Brooke Tran, is a third-year English major with minors in Film Studies, Sociology, and Data Science. She previously served as the ASuop Director of Strategic Marketing, an ASuop Associate Supreme Court Justice, and an AmeriCorps Fellow. She currently works as a Resident Assistant and an Admissions Campus Event and Training Manager.

Zhong and Tran have four main focuses for their campaign, each with a set of initiatives. Let’s break down what they plan on accomplishing if they’re chosen for office.

Accessibility– Zhong and Tran have laid out an ambitious plan for improving equitable resources on campus. Here are three key takeaways from their accessibility campaign:

1. Hybrid & Virtual Learning: Nearly two years of online instruction have taught us just how dangerous current conditions can be. They’ve also taught us how badly students can be affected when the school doesn’t offer adequate resources to connect virtually. While COVID restrictions are slowly lifted, people with pre-existing health conditions are still vulnerable. Zhong and Tran plan on working with faculty to make more options available to students, so they aren’t required to choose between their education and their wellbeing.

2. ASuop Website: Despite being a voice for the student body, ASuop can sometimes feel like its own island. Most students aren’t aware of how internal ASuop processes work or where their ASuop fee is going. A major point of contact between ASuop, student clubs, and the student body is TigerLink, and anyone who has ever used TigerLink knows that it’s unusable (unfortunate, considering it's the only way we can vote for elections). Zhong and Tran plan to create an ASuop website that hosts meeting minutes, legislation, and spending reports. This website will include text-to-speech and language translation software.

3. Better Student Spaces: While a majority of students live on-campus, there are also many who don’t. Without a room to retire to between classes, it’s easy to feel isolated. One of their planned initiatives to address this is to build better spaces for students to relax, study, and socialize in.

Sustainability– Zhong and Tran have centered their sustainability initiatives around its accessibility to college students. Here’s three points you should know:

1. Eco-Clam Giveaways: In order to cut back on landfill contribution, Pacific offers eco-clam reusable to-go boxes for around $5. Zhong and Tran plan to work with Sustaining Pacific to make these to-go boxes more accessible to students and encourage them to cut back on waste.

2. Plant-Based Incentive Program: Zhong and Tran plan to work with Bon Appetit to encourage students to eat more sustainably by implementing an incentive program for eating plant-based options.

3. Fossil Fuel Divestment: Have you heard that your school invests in fossil fuels through a student government election campaign? I did. Apparently, Pacific’s endowment fund involves fossil fuel investment. Zhong and Tran plan to work alongside ASuop’s Sustainability Committee to encourage the university to stop investing in environmentally harmful resources.

DEI– Here are four things you should know about Zhong and Tran’s DEI initiatives:

1. DEI Department Expansion: In order to best represent the diverse experiences of Pacific’s students, Zhong and Tran plan to establish a compensated Student Advisory Board made up of cultural club leaders, commuters, international students, and non-traditional students.

2. Culturally-Inclusive Dining Options: Dining in the DUC can be frustrating on a good day and challenging on a bad one. Zhong and Tran plan to work with Bon Appetit to provide more inclusive options, such as Halal and Kosher, and make the labeling immediately visible to browsing students.

3. Communication Between BIPOC Organizations: In order to improve communication between cultural clubs on campus, Zhong and Tran plan to work with DEI programs to make the campus more supportive for BIPOC students.

4. Stockton Collaboration: Stockton is one of the most diverse cities in California and has a wide array of community events. Zhong and Tran plan to collaborate with the Mayor’s Office to make it easier for Pacific students to engage with their city-wide community.

Mental Health– Here are two takeaways you should know about Zhong and Tran’s Mental Health initiatives:

1. Mental Health Workshops: College students almost universally struggle with burnout and stress. Zhong and Tran plan to collaborate with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Active Minds to organize workshops for students to learn healthy stress relief habits.

2. Incentive Calendar: While healthy living is its own reward, getting started can be a challenge. Zhong and Tran plan to establish a calendar that puts student wellbeing first and rewards their efforts in maintaining their mental health.