Tom Pessah presents the UC Berkeley ASUC divestment slate

From UC Berkeley's Tom Pessah:

Presenting the ASUC (UC Berkeley student Government) divestment slate.
No, no stand on decreased student services, tuition increases, huge waiting lists for labs and classes, or corruption and inefficiency in Berkeley operations.

Its all about divestment for Students for Just Us in Palestine.

So now you know, students. If you want your student government to spend their time and your money working on foreign policy , these are the folks to vote for.

Tom's announcement follows:

Do you support UC divestment from companies that enable Israel's illegal and racist occupation?
So do the following candidates for ASUC office, all of whom are strong allies of Students for Justice in Palestine.

VOTE at http://election.asuc.org/ from Tuesday April 10 9:00 AM until 11:59 PM on Thurs. April 12
The ASUC uses ranked-choice voting, so candidates should be be ordered in terms of preference (#1, #2, #3) to ensure your vote counts.


PRESIDENT
1. Andy Albright, CalSERVE
http://www.calserve.org/andrew-albright-for-asuc-president/

SENATE
1. Sadia Saifuddin, #138 Independent
https://www.facebook.com/SadiaSaifuddin138ForASUCSenate

2. George Kadifa, #186 SJP member, Student Action
3. Isaac Kreisman #205, Students for a Democratic University (SDU)
4. Deejay Pepito #184, CalSERVE


EXTERNAL AFFAIRS VICE PRESIDENT
We are fortunate to have three candidates running for this position who support SJP's goals (a sign of the successful work we've done on campus): Isabel Sausjord (SDU), Sydney Fang (CalSERVE), and Shahryar Abassi (Student Action).
Isabel, however, is a current and active member of SJP.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
Candidates from both CalSERVE (Anthony Galace) and SDU (James Chang) are allies.

ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT
Candidates from both SDU (Frank Luna) and CalSERVE (Naomi Wilson) are allies.

*********


So Bears, now you know who to vote for if you want your student activity fees to go towards foreign policy decisions instead of student services. Vote accordingly.

UPDATE
From the Daily Cal


For the first time in his 15 years as a Berkeley City Council member, Kriss Worthington has endorsed student candidates for the ASUC elections at UC Berkeley.

Worthington, whose district includes the UC Berkeley campus and surrounding Southside neighborhoods, endorsed Andrew Albright, Sydney Fang and Anthony Galace, three CalSERVE executive slate candidates who have worked on city and campus issues such as redistricting, affordable student housing and the city’s second response ordinance over the course of the past year.

Albright is running for ASUC president, Fang is running for external affairs vice president and Galace is running for executive vice president.

Worthington did not endorse the fourth and final CalSERVE member on its executive slate, Naomi Wilson, who is running for the position of academic affairs vice president, because he said he has never worked with her regarding city relations.

“I wasn’t endorsing the party,” Worthington said. “I was endorsing three individual people who I have observed doing a lot of work in the broader community of Berkeley.”

Though this is Worthington’s first time endorsing candidates for the executive slate, fellow Councilmember Gordon Wozniak previously endorsed current external affairs vice president Joey Freeman during last year’s election term and has endorsed current ASUC senator Shahryar Abbasi for the same position this semester. Both Freeman and Abbasi are running with Student Action...

“(Shahryar) was involved on the student redistricting issue — he’s come to council meetings several times,” Wozniak said. “I’ve worked closely with Joey Freeman, and I hope Shahryar can continue some of the projects he worked on.”

The external affairs vice president — which both Abbasi and Fang are running for — is the ASUC representative to the UC Student Association and oversees the ASUC’s lobbying efforts, focusing on matters outside of the UC Berkeley campus, specifically in the city of Berkeley and the state.

Wilson said she supports her fellow candidates and Worthington’s endorsement even though she was not endorsed herself.

“You shouldn’t endorse someone solely due to political affiliation. I’m excited to work with him hopefully in the next year,” Wilson said.

Albright, a current senator, said Wilson may not have been endorsed because of the nature of the position she is running for.

“As ASUC senators in general, we have access to city politics,” he said. “Her work has not been focused on the city but (on) taking action on higher education … improving lives in and improving communities on campus.”

Students for Justice in Palestine has taken the words of Saul Alinsky to heart “True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.” Seeing this level of SJP and BDS infiltration in our Berkeley City Council and municipal politics is daunting.