AAA Elections 2008 - Rules, Candidates, Platforms
The Official AAA Elections Website for the 2008-2009 Board
Saturday April 26th, 2008; 4PM-6PM
Lerner E569 (east side of the 5th floor)
Free food will be served, all are invited!
RULES OF ELECTIONS
- The outgoing Chair will be responsible for moderating the elections.
- Elections will begin with candidates vying for the Tier I position and proceed in a drop-down format, ending with candidates vying for Tier IV positions.
- Candidates who do not win a position will be formally asked their choice of position to which they would like to drop down. Candidates are allowed to choose any position within their own Tier or a position in a lower Tier. Candidates are allowed to drop down as many times as they wish.
- Within a tier, the election format will run in the order from most to least contested positions.
- Only official AAA board members, senior advisors, and official committee members (confirmed by their respective committee chairs via lists sent in to aaa.election@gmail.com) are eligible to vote. Honoring their eligibility to vote, AAA board and committee members who are unable to attend elections will be allowed to cast absentee ballots by 4PM on Saturday.
- General Body members are allowed to spectate and ask the candidates questions in the Q&A portion of the elections.
- The new board may choose Tier V candidates on the day of elections or adjourn for future deliberation or interviews.
RULES OF Q&A
- Each candidate (including Tier V candidates) is given up to 5 minutes to address the AAA board and the general body present at the elections.
- Anyone in the audience is allowed to ask questions to one or all candidates.
- Each candidate is allowed up to 1 minute to respond to a question.
- A candidate is allowed to ask a question to another candidate.
- Each candidate is allowed up to 1 minute to respond to a question.
- The candidate asking the question will be allowed an optional 30 seconds for a rebuttal to the response.
THE CANDIDATES
TIER I
Chair – 2
Ticket:
Corinne Fukuyama (Chair), SEAS 2010
Shilpa Vadodaria (CC/SEAS Vice Chair), SEAS 2010
TIER II
CC/SEAS Vice Chair – 1
Ticket:
Corinne Fukuyama (Chair), SEAS 2010
Shilpa Vadodaria (CC/SEAS Vice Chair), SEAS 2010
BC Vice Chair – 1
Katie Wang, BC 2010
TIER III
Secretary – 2
Julina Guo, CC 2011
Daniel Nishball, CC 2009
Treasurer – 1
Jeremy Tapp, CC 2011
TIER IV
Publicity Chair – 3
Joffre Andrade, SEAS 2010
David Zhu, CC 2011
Community Chair – 2
Ticket:
Corinne Fukuyama (Chair), SEAS 2010
Shilpa Vadodaria (CC/SEAS Vice Chair), SEAS 2010
Mei Li Zhou, CC 2011
Political Chair – 1
Jia Ahmad, CC 2011
Social Chair – 1
Patrick Chang, CC 2011
Historian - 2
Ticket: Eddie Kang, CC 2011 & Lizzie Shen, 2011
TIER V
Webmaster - 3
Cynthia Koo, CC 2010
Erika Chow, GS
Yitian Li, CC
USCC Representative - 1
Evan Omi, CC 2011
Platforms
TIER I
Chair - 2 contestants
Ticket:
Corinne Fukuyama (Chair), SEAS 2010
Shilpa Vadodaria (CC/SEAS Vice Chair), SEAS 2010
1. Create board positions for event advisors. These are individuals who have been OCMs on the board and have witnessed/run previous events, but aren’t on the e-board. They provide a liaison to the new OCMs for planning/running events. (the same was as for senior advisors, these positions fill about 2 of the board and are nominated by the e-board).
2. Reopen discussion about AAA as an umbrella group versus coalition building group.
3. Strive to become more of an alliance and redefine AAA’s role within the Columbia Community.
4. Redefine the Service Committee to become a Community Committee, which functions like APAAM’s Convergence event. This would be a committee with strong ties that functions to bring awareness to successful Asian American individuals regardless of whether they exist in the entertainment or professional realms.
5. Arts Festival. This is our baby - we would like for this event to be in the semester opposing cultureSHOCK. This is a forum to provide a music/arts concert/showcase on South Lawn, that brings everyone out in the spring to enjoy the wonders of Asian Americans in the artistic field.
6. Separate e-board meetings.
7. Propose president’s alliance.
8. Raise awareness of different social issues.
9. Really strive to bridge the gap between East Asian/South Asian and political/service/social/religious communities.
Intra-board Goals:
A. Creating a Safe Space:
• Start by creating a board bonding that is more inclusive
• Remove unnecessary beurocracy, but set up ground rules
• Check-in and Check-out
• Share lingo and AAA history with board members (ex: new OCM training/political terms)
B. Ideology/Discussion:
• Create points of dialog: Have board members and committee chairs ring newspaper articles or topics to discuss
that have relevance in their personal experience or they are curious about.
• Discuss why certain events are programmed and others not
• Allow for debriefing after campus events
C. Programming Events
• Use the past events as a possible guild, but require each OCM to create a new or change event
• Explore the intersections: race, gender, socio-economic class, and sexual orientation
• Help develop the archives/historian position so that we can improve on future events
• Less is more: Make quality events rather than a lot of half-attended events.
• Act with past and future in mind, not just reactionary.
D. Redefine Committee Relations
• Work with Political and Service committee to reshape relationship with main board
Coalitions:
A. Support
• Change the co-sponsorship process so as to avoid unnecessary waste of time and to allow for
necessary/fulfilling discussion
• Attend/ support other events outside of AAA and outside of specifically
B. Intersectionality
• Form creative events that touch on issues that affect the larger community as well as the APA community.
• Make events fun and accessible to everyone while also raising awareness.
TIER II
CC/SEAS Vice Chair - 1 contestant
Ticket:
Corinne Fukuyama (Chair), SEAS 2010
Shilpa Vadodaria (CC/SEAS Vice Chair), SEAS 2010
1. Create board positions for event advisors. These are individuals who have been OCMs on the board and have witnessed/run previous events, but aren’t on the e-board. They provide a liaison to the new OCMs for planning/running events. (the same was as for senior advisors, these positions fill about 2 of the board and are nominated by the e-board).
2. Reopen discussion about AAA as an umbrella group versus coalition building group.
3. Strive to become more of an alliance and redefine AAA’s role within the Columbia Community.
4. Redefine the Service Committee to become a Community Committee, which functions like APAAM’s Convergence event. This would be a committee with strong ties that functions to bring awareness to successful Asian American individuals regardless of whether they exist in the entertainment or professional realms.
5. Arts Festival. This is our baby - we would like for this event to be in the semester opposing cultureSHOCK. This is a forum to provide a music/arts concert/showcase on South Lawn, that brings everyone out in the spring to enjoy the wonders of Asian Americans in the artistic field.
6. Separate e-board meetings.
7. Propose president’s alliance.
8. Raise awareness of different social issues.
9. Really strive to bridge the gap between East Asian/South Asian and political/service/social/religious communities.
BC Vice Chair - 1 contestant
Katie Wang, BC 2010
As BC Vice Chair, I would increase publicity and exposure of AAA’s events to the Barnard campus. This would include having our events on the biweekly newsletters that are put into all student mailboxes and the e-mails sent out to the entire BC campus. I will also work to hold more events on Barnard’s campus because this past year it felt that most of our events were on
I plan on creating a weekly meeting at Barnard to discuss Asian American Women’s issues. These weekly meetings initially will only be open to people who identify as women on a daily basis so to foster a safe space to discusses these issues. As a group then the decision to open up the meetings to people who identify as men on a daily basis will be made.
TIER III
Secretary - 2 contestants
Julina Guo, CC 2011
My name is Julina Guo, and I am running for Secretary for the AAA E-board of ‘08-’09. As an OCM, I have gained insight into both the values of AAA and the inner workings of
Platforms:
1) Continue to be meticulous in and punctual to events and meetings, prepared to take notes and contribute to discussion.
2) Facilitate communication BTW AAA and Lerner employees in booking space, requesting services, and programming events.
3) Facilitate communication BTW AAA and other student groups in co-sponsoring and publicizing events.
4) Facilitate communication within AAA itself by encouraging new members to plan events and helping them to make those events possible.
5) Serving as a AAA representative to General Body Members by releasing up-to-date and informational newsletters every week.
6) Be a personable and enthusiastic AAA member…and to have fun!
Daniel Nishball, CC 2009
AAA is one of the most active organizations in
As Co-Chair of Fundraising for CultureShock 2008, I worked closely with Jeremy Tapp to carry out an aggressive and highly successful fundraising campaign, increasing funds raised over that of last year’s campaign, and exceeding our target. This task required a strong ability to remain organized, juggle complicated organizational tasks, and coordinate quickly and effectively with members of our team.
As Secretary, I hope to apply these same skills, using a variety of tools such as shared spreadsheets and the AAA web space to facilitate smooth functioning of the organization. Key assets of a leader that I value are the ability to form strong working relationships, consistent follow-through, and to be accessible and responsive – the synergy of which add up to one simple thing; to get the job done, and get it done wevll.
Treasurer - 1 contestant
Jeremy Tapp, CC 2011
Being Fundraising Co-Chair with Dan for this year’s cultureSHOCK has helped me develop many of the key skills required to be a successful Treasurer - making effective pitches, handling large amounts of money and responsibility, and importantly, brainstorming new ideas and ways of doing things.
As an OCM I have devoted a lot of time and energy to AAA, regularly attending meetings and events as well as hosting the Asian American Hip Hop workshop, and as Treasurer I promise this same energy and reliability. I have gained much from my AAA experience, which has opened my eyes to the many problems that Asian Americans face, and it is now my turn to give something back.
I have given serious thought to all the available positions and decided that I would have most to offer in the position of Treasurer. Managing money effectively is key to running any organization well, and I am fully ready to take on this responsibility. Vote for me for AAA Treasurer next year!
TIER IV
Publicity Chair - 3 contestants
Joffre Andrade, SEAS 2010
AAA’s goal to raise Asian American awareness on campus is a great one, and the various events AAA holds have succeeded in great part towards reaching that goal. Currently, it seems to me that many who attend AAA events are Asian Americans. Since AAA’s constituency and concerns are mainly applicable to Asian Americans, this is understandable; however, specific outreach to other demographic groups on campus could prove to be highly valuable. I believe that AAA’s messages and concerns should reach a larger percentage of students on campus in order to increase communal awareness and support.
My goal as publicity chair would be to continue to expand the audience of AAA, by trying to attract other groups of students to AAA events without losing the meaning behind those events. In this manner the messages and ideals that AAA expresses through its events can be heard by more of the general public, truly raising Asian American awareness among the entire student body.
David Zhu, CC 2011
As someone extremely involved on campus and proud of his heritage, I believe AAA is a fitting organization for my experience and personality. I strive to define harmonious co-existence of Asian heritage and American upbringing. Having attended many AAA events, I have not only learned the structure of this amazing organization, but have also developed close relationships with many current board members. As a proud Asian American, I would like to bring AAA to the spotlight. The Publicity Chair will reach out to the
· Increase publicity of AAA events through website, flyers, facebook, and word of mouth.
· Put an extra effort in publicizing among incoming first-years, utilizing the networks of the new OCMs.
· Work closely with the webmaster and ensure that the website is up to date.
· Keep in contact with and reach out to other on-campus and off-campus organizations and ensure that co-sponsored events are also well-publicized.
· Be active in all other aspects of AAA and contribute creative ideas during board meetings and discussions.
· Set up a “stationary center” with numbered staplers and tapes that people can use for flyering to prevent missing stationaries and occassions where board members spend their own money on tape.
· Show all board members the trick to invite all
Having worked with the GSSC for this semester, I have learned a thing or two about the effects of both positive and negative publicity. I believe the amount and the type of publicity can determine the life or death of any organization or event. In the case of AAA, because the nature of the issues that AAA addresses is sensitive, the role of publicity becomes that much more critical. In order for the voices of the underrepresented to be heard, there must be a strong publicity campaign, shedding light on issues pertinent to not just the AA community, but to the entire Columbia student body.
I hope to contribute to AAA by better representing the presence of AAA within the university and the community. The conventional means of publicity have been proved effective, but I feel that by exploring alternate, innovative means, AAA can promote itself further and in whole, reach out to a greater community. For example, by utilizing the technology that we’re all familiar with such as blogs or vlogs, or even podcasts, the breadth of which information can travel will extend greatly. In turn, the possibility of diversifying our audience becomes reality. This is what I hope to achieve as publicity chair. As it is our goal to break stereotypes, I want to disperse the message of AAA to those who feel alienated, to those who feel that our message is irrelevant, and to those who’ve never even heard our message.
Community Chair - 2 contestants
Ticket:
Corinne Fukuyama (Chair), SEAS 2010
Shilpa Vadodaria (CC/SEAS Vice Chair), SEAS 2010
1. Create board positions for event advisors. These are individuals who have been OCMs on the board and have witnessed/run previous events, but aren’t on the e-board. They provide a liaison to the new OCMs for planning/running events. (the same was as for senior advisors, these positions fill about 2 of the board and are nominated by the e-board).
2. Reopen discussion about AAA as an umbrella group versus coalition building group.
3. Strive to become more of an alliance and redefine AAA’s role within the Columbia Community.
4. Redefine the Service Committee to become a Community Committee, which functions like APAAM’s Convergence event. This would be a committee with strong ties that functions to bring awareness to successful Asian American individuals regardless of whether they exist in the entertainment or professional realms.
5. Arts Festival. This is our baby - we would like for this event to be in the semester opposing cultureSHOCK. This is a forum to provide a music/arts concert/showcase on South Lawn, that brings everyone out in the spring to enjoy the wonders of Asian Americans in the artistic field.
6. Separate e-board meetings.
7. Propose president’s alliance.
8. Raise awareness of different social issues.
9. Really strive to bridge the gap between East Asian/South Asian and political/service/social/religious communities.
Mei Li Zhou, CC 2011
I am from
This school year I am part of the AAA Service Committee, working with David Zhou, Community Chair of AAA. I attended the Student Advocates For Educational Rights (SAFER) meetings at United Chinese Association in Brooklyn and had the opportunity of meeting students of
Political Chair - 1 contestant
Jia Ahmad, CC 2011
I believe that I am well-suited for this position because it capitalizes on both my passion and my ability. One of the reasons I was initially attracted to AAA was its promise to explore the definition of Asian American identity and the issues pertaining to that definition; I want to be able to further that dialogue through this position.
I would like to encourage more politically inclined discussions on the AAA board itself: I think it is important to consider our own definition of Asian American—how broad or narrow that term is and how, furthermore, it defines our ‘constituency’ and its concerns. It’s important to consider whether we consider AAA a cultural organization or a political one—if an organization really can be both and what the ramifications of these categories (political, cultural) are.
I would also like to use this position to build alliances both within the Asian American community and with organizations outside of it. Even though AAA is no longer an umbrella organization, I think it would be fruitful to reach out to the Asian or Asian American cultural groups and engage them in a conversation about their political concerns and identities in order to gain a better understanding of our common interests, problems and differences. I’d also like to reach out to other cultural and political groups on campus; hopefully with a better understanding of ourselves and our political concerns, we will be able to identify our ability to help our allies with their respective struggles as well.
Social Chair - 1 contestant
Patrick Chang, CC 2011
The first of my many ideas for this coming year is that I would like to promote more OCM participation in events: not as participants, but as coordinators and leaders. In having the OCMs take a bigger role in events, the OCMs will learn valuable experience for the future and because of that the AAA board as whole will become stronger. I will of course be an overseer and an advisor
Due to my participation in events and meetings in all different sections of this board – I attended Political Committee meetings, was part of the Organizational Committee for CASPY, as well as a volunteer for NYSAAC – I saw the importance in all realms of the AAA board. I want to create more events tying together the different sections of AAA. As well as promoting internal board connections, I will also push for more solid connections between boards of other student groups.
The final addition I would like to make is to actively increase the visibility of the AAA board. I have talked to many people who do not even know who the AAA board is and because of this veil, those people feel disconnected to the club that they are “part” of. I would like to change that by creating a series of events that would put a face behind those e-mails. The board should know the rest of the AAA populace, thus the series would include sessions where AAA members would be able to state their thoughts about events.
Historian - 2 contestants
Eddie & Lizzie (combined platforms):
Here are presented the results of the inquiry carried about by Lizzie Shen of Hong Kong and Edward Kang of
According to Shen of Hong Kong, the value of archiving and revisiting the past to inform the present is great. Without knowing the foundation of its cause, AAA cannot continue its noble traditions. Shen says, “In addition to chronicling the history of AAA, I would like use my historical insight to engage the board in discussions pertaining to AAA events, campus occurrences and their greater application.” Shen continues, “AAA could be strengthened by the assessment of our activities, and bring to light the positive – and negative – aspects of our events for self-improvement to better serve our purpose. I believe what I have gained from AAA this year will influence my contribution next year: I coordinated and produced AAA’s Presidential Commentary on the 2008 presidential candidates, led discussion for AAA’s identity workshop, and co-chaired the decorations committee for CultureShock.”
In the words of Kang of Korea, the importance of immediate recording and reflection is fundamental to the success of next year’s AAA. Kang clarifies, “The main difference between the Past Historian and the Present Historian is that the Past reminds whereas the Present anticipates.” Kang continues, “I believe that I am capable of maintaining good inter-board relations, and such diplomatic ties will allow me to be critical, neutral and objective for the betterment of AAA. As an active observer, I will have a comprehensive knowledge of AAA’s current activities and their implications and effects. Such knowledge will allow me to assess and advise AAA to remain true to its cause. Furthermore, my creative contributions to AAA, such as organizing a board-bonding that appealed to more board members (CSA), developing ideas for AAA’s films, organizing external booths representing AAA, etc., will strengthen my position as the Present Historian.”
The synthesis of Shen the Past and Kang the Present will provide a vital method for AAA to be aware of itself regardless of time.
TIER V
Webmaster, Tech Guru, etc. - 3 contestants
Cynthia Koo, CC 2010
I’m CC ‘10, majoring in Econ and EALAC; extracurriculars include Kappa Phi Lambda (for which I redesigned the website last year [www.columbia.edu/cu/kpl) and APAAM (for which I designed the logo and as this year’s webmaster [www.cuapaam.com]). [Other sites: www.pensionpartners.com, www.lexingtonneurology.com]. I have experience with HTML, PHP, (some) Flash, and Photoshop. I’d like to be a part of AAA for reasons including–to learn more about the ways in which students can organize politically, to become more involved in CultureShock(!), & to meet more people (among other reasons :)).
Erika Chow, GS
Hi, my name is Erika Chow, and I’m running for the position of webmaster for AAA. Most of you are probably wondering, “who is she?” It’s definitely not an unfounded question, because I just transferred to
Web designing has always been a passion for me, as well as a way to procrastinate. Since I don’t have any commitments to other clubs, I can give my full attention to AAA. I would also like to work on the BLAAAG and help to spread the word out about the blog. I took the opportunity to look through the current sites and find a few things I want to change. The following list is what I feel is the most important of all the ideas I have for improving the site:
1. Cleaning up and regulating the BLAAAG’s tags and cutting down on the “What We’re Reading” section
2. Moving the BLAAAG to a Wordpress platform on a subdomain of the AAA site
3. Applying mootools, a javascript program that allows minimizing and maximizing of sections, to the AAA sidebar
4. Working with the board and committees to create a more elaborate upcoming events list
5. Expanding the media section
I hope to work closely with the board to present a user-friendly and, of course, awesome looking website.
Yitian Li, CC
I grew up in a tiny Chinese village with nary a computer in sight. Me and my friend Ping Guo had to trek 15 kilometers to the nearest computing station. I’ll never forget the moment that we saw a row of lights in front of giant grey box blink mesmerizingly, signifying the beautiful equation: 1+1=2. Fast forward 10 years and I’m now traveling down a new road, the information superhighway to be exact, that connects me into a larger electronic web that is both worldly and wide. And it is then that I realized that regardless of whether we are Asian or American, we are all connected, just like robots will be. A great man once asked (to paraphrase), “ask not what AAA can do for you, ask what you can do for AAA”.
I can type 70+ WPM, do a little webdesign, tamper with Java, and use FTP. When I type the <a> tag, I think about Asian. About American. And the
USCC Representative - 1 contestant
Evan Omi, CC 2011
I would like to accept the nomination for USCC Representative. I will make sure AAA’s interests and priorities are well represented at USCC meetings. I will also aim to increase the exposure of AAA events and activities among the general body of the USCC organization. I also plan on keeping the board well-informed about what is going on with USCC and the other organizations that are apart of it. I consider myself responsible and I haven’t missed a AAA meeting all year. You can expect me to bring this level of responsibility to the position of USCC Representative. I will not only be responsible but I will do whatever it takes to make sure the connection between USCC and AAA is strong and healthy. Thanks.
