Majors: History, Political Science / International Studies and Asian Studies
Minors: Art History and Leadership / Chinese and Leadership
Years in School: Juniors
Campus Involvement:
Armijo: PLP, USG (Diversity Committee), Fraternity and Sorority Life (Theta Chi – President), campus tour guide
Fitzgerald: DU Dems, PLP, Former and Upcoming Residential Assistant (Nelson), Skintight Outrage Improv/Comedy, Pardee Research Institute out of Korbel
Why are you running for USG President and Vice President?
A: I’ve been thinking about it since junior year. There is a big pull about it in a campus setting. [Campuses like DU] aren’t always great to people like me; a lot of the population doesn’t look like me…it can feel a little ostracizing and out-of-the-loop. If it weren’t for the friends I made here, and the communities I’ve gotten to be involved with, my experience would be different. But DU has been great for me — that experience and love for campus — I want to give to everyone.
F: Mine goes back to the groups on campus as well. When I toured here [with] my tour guide, so many people knew who she was and said hello to her, and that stood out to me. There’s community on this campus, and people talk with one another. I’ve been able to see different, incredible communities on campus, and see that there are so many ways people can get involved and find their group. One of our big things is we want to go from smaller communities interacting with each other, to one giant DU community — respectfully interacting with people different than them and creating a culture of inclusiveness. And I think we are the best candidates to do that.
What makes you qualified to represent the entire student body in their voices, opinions, and frustrations?
A: We’re ingrained in the student body. We are active in a lot of many different causes, and with that, you see a lot of the positives but you also see some of the downfalls, and this makes us qualified to listen to all students across all identities who make up this campus and see what situations and pitfalls happen to them. We’re willing to listen. That’s a big one. And it’s not just a willingness to listen, it’s a willingness to be heard. There’s a difference in being listened to and being heard, and I think we have that empathy for students to be heard.
F: The whole reason we’re going into this is because we don’t want to make decisions for the student body. We don’t want to sit there and going to say, “This is what we’re going to do.” We instead want to say, “Bring all the different parties together, have these constructive and sustained dialogues, and find out what everyone wants to do.” One thing that we bring into this is that we do care about DU. This isn’t a resume builder. My grandpa always says, “You ever want to do a good job at anything, you have to give a damn.” We give a damn.
While as a team you may be qualified, as both men, you cannot represent the 54% of the DU population that is female. How are you planning to address the female and female-identifying DU experience and their needs?
A: We have to surround ourselves with the female DU experience. I caution myself in using that because gender-identity is fluid and so on and so forth, but especially in a moment of #metoo…I remember seeing on Twitter somewhere that Cardi B said, “Men who support #metoo aren’t woke but they’re scared,” and I think that’s true, because for the both of us, the #metoo movement really had us reflecting on our relationships with women and our actions. It is very strong optics if we’re two men and this campus is made up of 54% women…but we have to surround ourselves with women and hear their experiences and try to understand. A: On the topic of that, surrounding ourselves with strong women but also, specifically with women of color. I think what happens a lot [is that] sometimes we get the voices of women, but those rooms aren’t very diverse themselves. And that is very important to me as a person of color — that for women of color on this campus that’s another experience we can’t relate to. And so it’s being very mindful of not just picking archetypal strong women, but women from a variety of backgrounds.
What are the top three issues you are bringing to the forefront of your platform?
- Housing Infrastructure: For a campus that anticipates 75% of its student body to go abroad, we feel in both of our experiences, that the reintegration and re-housing situation is handled at best, poorly. That’s not a blight on the university, but if you are advertising and expecting that three-fourths of your student body, that they’re going to just leave and come back, and the investiture isn’t there to be back to study, and be financially feasible for the student, is very shocking. I think what the university expects is that we then go off and find housing outside of the university, and for a lot of students, that’s not easy to do. And when your housing scholarship doesn’t transfer over to where you want to live next year, what do you do? We want it to make it easier for students to not only find housing, but find safe, reliable, clean, well-managed housing. And I think the university doesn’t provide that. That’s where our landlord rating system comes in. It would give students the tools of agency to start reporting them to the university and city if it’s not safe and reliable, and holding them accountable business-wise.
- Campus Culture: Everyone’s talked about this since we’ve been freshman and it continues to be an issue. We think that DU’s culture can be at its best when it’s the most diverse, open, and the most respectful of diverse opinions and viewpoints. We’re really focused on encouraging co-programming events between different organizations on campus. We’re really pushing big, fun events [and] getting people involved that otherwise might not. When you start bringing two bubbles together, that’s when you start creating a culture, and that’s what we are really hoping and planning for.
- USG Transparency: We want this campus engaged with undergraduate student government, and at all parts, not just during election season. More student engagement within the undergraduate student government gives us more pull to start talking to administration. When we have a stronger student voice, we have a stronger pull so we can start tackling some of these bigger issues. Last year’s student government has done a lot of foundational work for us. Student government is an important aspect to this campus, and we want to work with the administration; we don’t want to make the administration the enemy. They are one of the strongest partners we have in ensuring our success on campus as students and organizations and communities of people. We’re willing to have tough conversations still but then to use the culture aspect, really creating a cultural and economic powerhouse out of the University of Denver. Using those groups [on campus] who are already doing incredible things, and using them as models on how different groups can push themselves into the communities. We’re hoping to create some lobbyist positions which would send students on behalf of us to go lobby city government, state government, and businesses.
Yes or no, Boone or no Boone?
A & F: No.
It’s more than likely you will not be able to resolve every issue you speak to in your platform? How are you planning to deal with this predetermined failure and prepare the next student body government to continue your legacy?
A: Preparing the next student government for it. A lot of leadership is whatever you do, you have to leave the room cleaner than you come in. If we can leave foundational structures to make difficult conversations on this campus easier, if we have listened to the issues that have popped up, and worked with them in which everyone is involved regardless of the outcome, I think I would be proud in what we’ve done.
F: We’re not going to reach everything, there will be tough nights, times we feel disappointed in ourselves, but take the learning from our mistakes into the next issue next policy piece.
At the end of the school year, how do you want your leadership team to be remembered?
F: I want to leave behind the kindling flame of a culture. Groups that are more than happy to schedule different events together. Work together [in] finding a mascot…something that brings people together and makes people excited. I want to leave behind a legacy of respect. Humility in the job. It’s our campus, our city, we’re the future of this place, we should start embracing and acting like that in starting to change this place.
A: We’re not worried about leaving behind our names…we’re okay with fading into the void, but we want to leave behind institutions and structures that leave this institution the best place it can be.
Thank you, and good luck!
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