An Interactive Conversation for ASUN Candidates on LGBTQIA+ Concerns
Rachel Jackson reports on the 2nd Annual Queer Town Hall held by the Gamma Rho Lambda Alpha Delta chapter sorority, featuring ASUN presidential and vice presidential candidates speaking on LGBTQIA+ issues on campus. From community candidates to platform podcasts to more public listings of events to legislative inclusivity, there was lots to consider.
Accountability and Accessibility
Amid the pandemic, the Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) election season, and the ongoing spring semester, students gathered via Zoom and social media to talk with presidential and vice presidential hopefuls to discuss LGBTQIA+ students on campus. The town hall was hosted by Gamma Rho Lambda, the first LGBT+ inclusive sorority in Nevada. To start off, the candidates were asked: How can we hold you accountable while you’re in office for any promises you make to the LGBT community?
“We need more accessibility,” one of the presidential candidates Darwin Snyder said. “We need to know exactly what our elected officials are doing. So whether that’s through podcasts, live sessions, things that Kate [Torres] and I have done together this campaign season, is we’ve really thought about how we’re going to, you know, be accessible to our students. So we’ve given out our personal phone numbers. You know, you can text us, call us whenever you need something. This is an opportunity for all of you to get to know us better so that we can serve you better.” Snyder stated. “I think the biggest thing is just making sure that we’re an open book.”
Snyder’s phone number is currently listed on his Twitter (https://twitter.com/thedarwinsnyder).
Vice presidential candidate Kate Torres has made representation and reaching students a main priority going into election season as Snyder’s running mate. “If you don’t follow somebody on Instagram, if you don’t follow your vice president, your president, or whatever, you have no idea what’s going on.” Torres is pushing a podcast as a campaign vehicle. “We’re going to be doing that biweekly, reporting essentially everything that we’re talking about, everything that has been going on, meetings, any reports that we have done, any resolutions that we have supported, anything like that, it’ll all be in that podcast … We also wanted to do, make sure that we have an LGBTQ+ representative in ASUN. I think that it’s time to stop being so exclusive, we have to be more inclusive and make sure that everything is equitable to everybody and that includes having a representative.”
Candidates who are Members of the Community
Vice presidential candidate Aaron Piña plans to use their perspective as a gender-queer, Latinx person in the LGBTQIA+ community to ensure they are on the same level as the students.
“Understanding accessibility policies, specifically like for social media and things like that, I want to expand that even further to be accessible to all students, no matter where you are or where you come from, or your ability as an individual,” they said. “And so, I want to utilize more open forums, I want to work with the DRC (Disability Resource Center) in a lot of ways to ensure whatever upcoming event that we are going to be having in ASUN, or any kind of meeting that we’ll be attending or encouraging the students to attend too, that are going to be accessible … and that all of you will have a true voice and representative in ASUN.”
If elected, Piña wants an open door policy to allow student interaction whenever they need it. “As a queer individual, I want to be held accountable as many ways as possible, cause if I’m not serving y’all, like I’m just being bad on myself, and that’s embarrassing and we don’t want that!”
Current ASUN Vice President and presidential candidate Austin Brown finds accountability easiest through creating connections with students.
“Also being a member of the LGBTQ community, it’s been super important to me this past year to be a good representation for all of us … Being at the town hall this time last year, getting these same questions, asking how I can truly represent the LGBTQ community, and I hope I’ve done an okay enough job at that to continue doing this. One of the things that Keegan and I are running on is accessibility … Just because you can’t physically be somewhere doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to get connected to people,” Brown said.
Brown’s vice presidential partner Keegan Murphy is promoting his experience as speaker of the student senate. “As speaker of the senate, I ran on the platform and the pillar of accountability. Whether that means that we hold each other as senators accountable, but I wanted to make it clear that I need to be held accountable when I’m in that position of power. And that goes for all people in ASUN, whether that’s president or vice president. You know, one of the job duties of the vice president is being a liaison with the speaker, so really making our senate more accessible.”
Murphy is especially interested in going to club meetings and building engagement with students. “I might not have all the answers, but I am so open to listening first and acting second.”
Student Concerns of Progress, Humility and Inclusivity
Student Kayla Snowden asked candidates what notable actions they have taken as ASUN members to aid the LGBTQ+ community.
Murphy responded with a list of resolutions passed this year during his term as speaker of the senate, totaling about 120 resolutions thus far. These include resolutions in support of art projects for the LGBTQIA+ community and Black Lives Matter Movement. In his term as a senator the year before, Murphy voted in favor of resolutions to create a bill of rights for sexual assault survivors, erase a statute of limitations for sexual assault cases with DNA evidence, and “uphold and protect human rights and equity for Black and marginalized peoples at the university, local, state, and national levels.”
Brown and Murphy both voted to fund two paid positions for The Center, Every Student, Every Story, a center located on the 3rd floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union, aimed at helping students of color, undocumented students, LGBTQIA+ students, and others receive services and programs aimed at increasing graduation rate and a sense of community. In terms of aiding through representation, Brown feels he fits the bill. As a gay man in a position of power, he finds himself being the representation he says he needed to see as a child. Brown believes that students, regardless of sexuality or gender identity, are capable of being in a leadership position.
Student Lauren Harvey asked candidates how they will ensure humility in their position through admitting their wrongs and educating themselves.
Piña responded by citing their limited experience in ASUN in comparison to the other candidates on the ballot and how being elected would be a learning experience. Piña also noted how their own laid back attitude would help them learn and grow as a representative.
Torres noted the importance of pronouns and their proper usage. She admitted to accidentally using the wrong pronouns for someone before, owning up to the mistake, and correcting it. Torres emphasized the need for student opinion on representatives and how they should openly accept hearing different ideas and criticism.
The Importance of Inclusive Legislation
Snyder credits his experience in and out of ASUN for his perspective on student politics. He has seen the work of ASUN up close and personal, while also understanding the frustrations of being a student outside of the process. He said he cast his personal and political ideologies to the side, opting to put students first.
Student Elena De La Paz brought up the issue of inclusivity not being pushed sooner on campus by ASUN.
Torres described the role of a senator when it comes to actual policymaking, stating that inclusivity is not a new idea. She then pointed out that the senators who write inclusive legislation do more for inclusivity than those who simply vote on it, even if those senators vote in favor of it. Torres wrote legislation on the police budget that was not passed, connecting the outcome to the lack of unity in ASUN when it comes to inclusivity. Snyder joined in stating talk is cheap compared to action. “If Kate and I are elected, that expectation for being inside ASUN, it means that you’re there for the betterment of the students. And if you’re not there for that then you don’t belong there,” Torres said.
Murphy pointed out how inclusivity should reach to students with disabilities, veteran students, and international students. “I can’t tell you how many times international students will come to programming events just because, you know, they want to talk to someone. And really just like us, as student leaders, reaching out and inviting them to our, you know, events, holding events specifically for them to make it feel like, you know, they’re at an event from home, just to kind of bring them more sense of familiarity, you know that Pack pride,” Murphy said.
Murphy noted that although some student leaders may not have been a part of the writing process for legislation, they are still a part of the conversation surrounding it.
Brown said that inclusivity is a work in progress that takes time. “I don’t think it’s something that you can walk into office, you get eight months essentially to do your work, and boom, everything’s fixed. Like that’s just not feasible. But what I can say is, I’ve had the pleasure and absolute opportunity to be in a spot and hold positions of power where I can say, ‘I’ve learned from the Jackson Administration about what inclusivity is and I’ve been able to work with it during the Martinez Administration,’ and now being able to work with President [Dominique] Hall and actually implement it is just something so, so valuable to my development as a person.”
Keeping Spaces Safe and Sound
To conclude, Shay Jordan asked how safe spaces and LGBTQ+ organizations will be supported by the candidates during the pandemic.
Torres brought up mental health and housing insecurity for LGBTQ+ students on campus.
“It really is about including every single person into the aspect of your goals. And knowing that you have to make sure that tuition, scholarships, housing, everything is being taken into account when you’re coming up with those goals. So our goal of educational securities would be to start establishing scholarship forums, it would be about talking to DACA international students through language barriers because there are so many different language barriers as well with atypical students as well. And that is what we have outlined as well as our COVID litigation plan, which is in our safety and wellness goal, and that COVID litigation plan, I’ve written a piece of legislation previously, calling out that fact that there was no notice of the gym closure and then a lot of students ended up having to take another job out of nowhere … We have to make sure we are prepared for every scenario,” Torres said.
Murphy pointed out the high rates of suicidal thoughts in LGBTQ+ youth as well as the high homeless rate.
“I think we could support these students by something Princeton is doing. They have this website where all of their LGBTQ events throughout the university and even like the local community are listed … but I think having this for our city of Reno would be something that a lot of students could, you know, utilize … We have these resources, we have rent funds, emergency tuition funds, Pack Provisions. We have all these resources, but it’s just a way of reaching out to all students and assuring, you know, ‘We have this for you, you don’t have to be homeless. You don’t have to know where your next meal’s coming from because ASUN is a support service and we’re here for you,” Murphy said.
“I think what people need most now are friends,” Brown added. “They need love and compassion. And that’s something that I would love to do regardless if I’m elected president or I’m just another senator or student getting their degree. I think it’s super important to know and have all of our students know whether you’re LGBTQ, whether you’re homeless, whether you’re trans, whatever it is, just know that there is someone who loves you and supports you.”
Piña made their final statement on their plan to access more funds to help underprivileged students. “Working with our director for campus wellness in addition to the university departments, making sure that there are individuals and resources that are able to best serve our queer students and the queer experience. I hope to take action in the beginning of my term, should I be elected … to apply pressure to university leadership, especially for our new president Brian Sandoval, to use the private sector connections that he talked about in his run for president, to increase access to funds and support for students on this campus. We need to be taking much more action than we have done in the past, especially now, and especially something that we should’ve been doing at the beginning of this pandemic,” Piña said.
The first virtual primary election debate for presidential candidates will be held Monday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m., and the primary debate for vice presidential candidates will be held the following night on Tuesday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom. The primaries will be held Wednesday, March 3 at 8 a.m. until Thursday March 4 at 5 p.m. The general election will be Wednesday, March 10 at 8 a.m. until Thursday March 11 at 5 p.m.
