Editor’s note: Changed Cordova’s involvement in student government for three years to served as student ambassador for three years.
Associated Student Government has begun their campaigns for the President and Vice President, who take office in Fall 2021. Voting opens on April 19, and goes through the 21, closing at 5.pm.
Presidential candidate Cordova was a student ambassador for three years and served as Student Trustee this year, who sits on with the Board of Trustees at CMU. Vice Presidential candidate Bravo started a chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at CMU, and has a history of advocacy.
Cordova is in her third year at CMU, and is majoring in Social Work. She is a first-generation student.
“Transparency is a huge thing that Mario and I want to reciprocate into the student body, just because we do want to be as authentic as possible. We understand that there’s a lot of power within our student body government, and we know that there’s a lot of students that do not fully understand that, so we want them to utilize the power that we hold in our [student] government,” Cordova said.
Bravo is also in his third year at CMU and is majoring in Computer Science. A first-generation student, he immigrated from Mexico as a child.
“This past year we went through a whole pandemic, and we still currently are in one. The most impacted students were people by the pandemic were the underrepresented groups, so in that case like minorities, or non traditional students or students with families, and we need help financially in a mental way or in other ways that we probably didn’t really need it before,” Bravo said.
Their campaign runs on the pillars of transparency, diverse representation and emphasizing connections across campus, especially to aid mental health.
“What we’re thinking about doing is reaching out to those students that are underrepresented […] and have an inclusive environment for them to feel welcomed in, and also make them feel like they’re at home,” Bravo said. “College is their home. College is the place that they need to come and feel like they’re well represented, and they’re well supported.”
With turnover at the Presidential positions at both the university and student government level, a difficult task next semester is navigating the change, along with handling the concerns of COVID-19.
“I think the biggest thing that we have learned as an institution, and as individual people in this COVID year has been adaptability,” Cordova said. “Adaptability is a big lesson that a lot of us had to learn the hard way, but it was also a really good way of learning. And the turnover of what’s going on, through the student body administration and the actual administration of CMU is not going to be anything different.”
Transparency in student government is a big pillar for Cordova and Bravo: giving students a chance to see how student government works.
“We do want to offer the students more of the chance to attend these meetings, and not only that, but hold meetings where we educate them on the process of what is going on and why things went the way that they went,” Cordova said. “So if they have questions after an actual Senate meeting or House of Representatives meeting, we can follow up with them and explain the whole process.”
Cordova and Bravo believe they are equipped to handle the struggles.
“Jackie and I are first gen Hispanic students — we know where that [representation] struggle was from, and we know that we can address it in such a way that we will be able to help these other students who have already struggled, and also provide them with the resources that we have,” Bravo said.
Mental health is another aspect that their campaign emphasizes.
“I’ve had quite a few meetings with [Acting Vice President of Student Services] Liz Howell about how students are struggling with mental health right now, and we’re doing everything we can; however there’s a section in there missing. And it’s the communication between the two, and it is the reason why students are not reaching out. Right now, Mario and I are working through a plan on how to bridge the gap right in between them,” Cordova said.
The duo are also trying to push for CMU to earn an Hispanic Serving Institution accreditation, which is awarded when the total undergraduate full-time enrollment of Hispanic students makes up 25% of the student body.
“Right now we are [around 22%], but as soon as we hit that 25%, more funding is going to be gifted to us in forms of financial aid and resources,” Cordova said. “We’re here for the students, so ultimately we’re going to do whatever they want to do if they have concerns.”
