Sergio Gonzalez

Sergio Gonzalez is a candidate for ASUCD Senate in the Winter 2014 ASUCD Election running on the NOW slate.

Candidate Statement

Hello Aggies!!

My name is Sergio Gonzalez and I am proudly running for ASUCD Senate with the now slate. I am a transfer student from San Jose, California and I am double majoring in Political Science and Economics. While at West Valley Community College, I developed an appreciation for serving and representing students through my two-year tenure as their Student Body President. I have the passion, perseverance, experience and leadership to strongly represent you and be a strong advocate for your ambitions, your ideas, and your education.

I am running for ASUCD Senate alongside NOW because I believe their mission statement holds true for all of us, we have a voice and we are apart of something that is larger than each of us. We are all strong advocates of change and I am determined to accomplish the following platforms with NOW and whoever is driven to work with me to accomplish them:

INCREASE TEXTBOOK AFFORDABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY As college students, textbooks are not only an expensive cost of education but they also serve as an expensive burden. Each year we’re faced with updated editions, higher prices, and extra sources such as readers. I understand the struggles we face as students and I am passionate about alleviating the burden that comes with unreasonably high book prices. I would like to introduce a program that I successfully implemented and managed as the Student Body President at West Valley College called “Books for Food.” The program affords a student the chance to donate 50 cans of food in exchange for a textbook for one quarter. This not only helps students by lessening the stress of purchasing books, but it also benefits the middle and low income families of the Davis community.

IMPROVE AND ENHANCE TRANSFER TRANSITIONING PROCESS AND ORIENTATION While transfer orientation provides a decent amount of resources for incoming students, it still leaves a lot of room for confusion and unanswered questions. During orientation a thousand plus students receive a single focused message from the University in hopes that most students can relate and find the information useful. Yet this severely misses the mark due to the uniqueness of our backgrounds and needs for a successful journey at UC Davis. I want to better enhance the transitioning process by providing realistic individual services. This would include offering a variety of workshops during orientation to ease students concerns and provide them the helpful tools they need to be successful in their unique journey.

I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, and, above all, I ask you to join me in making UC Davis, a strong institution for our educational success. Please join me and remember to vote SERGIO GONZALEZ #1 and NOW #2-6 and WONDERS/GHAI for ASUCD President and Vice President on Feb. 18-21 at elections.ucdavis.edu!