Victoria Calderon
Year: Sophomore
Major: Journalism
Hometown: Toledo, OH
Activities: Student Senate Women’s Affairs Commissioner, Homecoming Steering Committee, Alpha Phi Omega
What do you think is the most important role of the student trustee?
Foremost, the student trustee is responsible for being that link to the board from the students. There are only two students on the board, so it’s up to the student trustees to be the student voice.
It’s unfortunate sometimes that (student trustees) can’t have a vote because if there was a case in which you were voting against the wider opinions, you’d be kind of voting against the student perspective but more than that, you can’t only keep students in mind.
You have to think about how the other people who are related to this community in Athens, and the faculty and the administrators, how the decisions made in the Board of Trustees meetings are going to affect everyone.
For Student Senate, which I am Women’s Affairs Commissioner, in those meetings I have to keep in mind my constituents, the women of OU. To me it’s been a good experience to try and think about what’s going to be best for them and I would do the same thing as the student trustee.
What do you think is going to be the big issue for the next two years?
Absolutely budget cuts and how they affect so many different parts of our experience here, whether it’s going to be the quality of academics, or our student programming, our student services.
As a student I’ve had to feel the burden of those budget cuts. I’ve lost the director of my scholarship program for every year that I’ve been here. I think that as a new student, I feel that, I can see my diversity centers shrinking here at Baker, the LGBT center, the Women’s center, the Multicultural Center … to me those things are dear to my heart.
But also, what are other students suffering from? Are they worried about the quality of their academics and how am I going to protect that for them? It’s not just the money that’s being lost, it’s what that’s going to take away from these students and the stress they’re going to feel.
Clearly these students are going to rebel against this, and it’s…how can I inform them about what’s going on, which is also a very big thing.
(Students) have so many resources available to them to find out what is in our budget. They can print out excel forms, they can talk to administrators, and I want them to know they’re not just alone in this, they are not just a simple student that has to bear these burdens without any help, I think, is very important.
What do you think you would do well in office?
In my two years here at OU, I’ve really tried to experience as much of my university as I can and to seek leadership in that.
As a Templeton Scholar, I have really embraced what the OMSAR (Office for Multicultural Student Access and Retention) office can do for me. What it provides for the retention of so many students.
As a Bobcat Student Orientation leader, I’m trying to find out what I can do for all incoming freshmen and how I can make their experience the best at OU. I have loved my time advocating for students here, whether it’s for better awareness against sexual assault or on the diversity awareness committee.
I have helped with the climate committee, it has really helped me realize what people are going through and how there’s no reporting for them. To me it’s just what I’ve seen.
Even for a director of homecoming, it’s just like, how much people love their school and how alumni want to come back and feel that the school they love is doing the same for all the future students coming in, That they’re getting the same experience, the same quality education that they had when they came here.
What is your position on student trustee voting rights?
I’m not sure if I have enough information to decide. I think it’s one of those things the people I have talked to really benefitted going to those meetings and seeing, like I need to feel comfortable that my opinion was being heard, I felt if the other board members were really taking into account what I was saying, and the research I put into it, it’s not just my personal opinion, but if I had something that I felt was really important and it wasn’t being listened to, then clearly I would think that I needed a voting position to get my point across.
So, until I can experience that firsthand, I’m not sure that I can say yes or no on that.
Should the Budget Planning Council meetings be open to the public?
I’ve heard both sides on this, and I’m not entirely sure but I would say to me what means a lot is to have so many students advocate on the opening of the council, and then to spend time with administrators to change their minds.
I don’t think they’re being tricked out of their opinion, I think that maybe they have been further educated and they know that keeping them closed is the right decision.
That’s something that I would like to talk with more people and find out what are the pros and cons of it before I can decide. As trustee I would make that my number one job to do the research to figure out what is best.
