Iris Xie

Iris Xie is a candidate for ASUCD Senate in the Winter 2013 ASUCD Election running on the SMART slate.

Iris Xie is a 3rd year English major with a Women & Gender Studies minor from the Bay Area. She is an active member in the Asian Pacific Islander (API) and Queer communities. Her ASUCD experience includes serving as a senate intern and co-authoring legislation to urge the UCD administration to focus on Women of Color faculty retention.

Candidate Statement

Hello UC Davis! My name is Iris Xie and I am running for ASUCD Senate with Students Matter: Activism, Retention, Teamwork (https://www.facebook.com/UCDSMART). Running with S.M.A.R.T. is a dynamic way to bring students concerned with under-representation into ASUCD. ASUCD should be a place where individual students can feel comfortable knowing that their leaders truly sympathize with their struggles in this institution and on the senate table. As a queer Asian woman who works hard to examine her privileges daily, I firmly believe in the importance of working towards being an ally to communities that are not your own. I’ve built coalition with several underrepresented groups and negotiating their individual needs opened my eyes to the challenges in being able to serve the UC Davis community properly. I’ve had experience educating first year students about oppression and racism as an LGBTRC Peer Educator and now I am the Academic Resources and Mentorship Coordinator in the Asian Pacific American Leadership Committee serving those interested in API issues and awareness. I also advocate for the retention of women of color in institutions of higher learning with the SaveVNow movement for Professor Valverde’s tenure and am a proud member of Asian Pacific islander Queers.

IMPROVE CAMPUS SAFETY REGARDING SEXUAL VIOLENCE In 2011, UC Davis police reported 22 forcible sex offenses in UC Davis. 1 rape is 1 too many, and 22 is vile. As UC Davis’s reputation for a safe campus is compromised by these crimes, I realized that there is a need for a sustained campus-wide effort towards sexual violence awareness and education for a safer campus climate. I am already working closely with Campus Violence Prevention Program (CVPP) to start campus-wide initiatives to increase student advocacy and awareness in preventing violence regarding sexual harassment, assault, and misconduct. In order to address these issues, I will create an ASUCD committee on sexual violence, and we will do special projects such as an ASUCD-authored resource handbook and planning awareness campaigns, in order to start a tradition of empowering Aggies to advocate for violence prevention, therefore creating more safe and accessible spaces within the UC Davis community.

LOWER TUITION Despite the fact that Proposition 30 has passed, tuition is still high. S.M.A.R.T. candidates have been working on forging a stronger relationship between UC Davis and other UC campuses through UNITE, the SaveVNow movement, the UC Ambassadors Program, and attending G.R.O.W. training with student lobby at UC Santa Barbara. I feel passionate about working together to activate our 25,000 student voices alongside UCSA to advocate to the UC Regents to fight for lowering tuition immediately, through UCSA's debt restructuring program.

Vote for informed student leaders that genuinely care about your undergraduate experience and will listen to YOUR needs, VOTE FOR ME IRIS XIE #1 for ASUCD Senate, S.M.A.R.T. #2-5 and F.U.Q. for President and Vice President!