Facing a university administration rejecting compromise with its students, a state government failing to allocate money for its public universities, and a national government threatening to withdraw undocumented students’ right to education, the Office of External Affairs maintains a deep responsibility to elevate and mobilize student voices this year.
With two years of lobbying experience with the University of California Student Association (UCSA) in her pocket, Caroline Siegel Singh is an excellent candidate to challenge these obstacles head-on.
In February, Singh successfully spearheaded an initiative to grant student access to the Plan B contraceptive in campus vending machines. Regardless of the obstacles Singh faced during negotiations with various members of the UCSD administration, she accumulated invaluable knowledge on how to leverage relationships with the UC Office of the President (UCOP), UCSA, and the UC Regents to meet advocacy goals.
In her interview with The Triton, Singh described her commitment to extending the work done by this year’s Vice President of External Affairs to organize knowledge-sharing mechanisms for student advocacy and to mobilize a UCSD student population more charged than ever before. Singh hopes to achieve this goal by revitalizing the Triton Lobby Corps, establishing quarterly weeks of action on topics such as Title IX and immigration reform, and increasing student interaction with policymakers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
Singh also prioritizes the long-term goals of increasing student access to voter registration and voting to maximize student voter turnout. Her vision of a university culture rooted deeply in civic engagement should warrant your vote.
Read our main endorsement of the 2018-19 elections here.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of the article was not tagged as an editorial. The title has been updated for transparency and clarity.