Q&A with new A.S. President Yadira Cruz

Humboldt State University students elected Yadira Cruz as their 2019-2020 Associated Students President. The results were announced on Monday, April 29.

Born in East Los Angeles, California, and of Mexican descent, Cruz is a first generation college student using her experience of various community outreach programs in hopes to better serve students of HSU. During her freshman year of college, she was in the Criminology and Justice Studies club and also worked as an HSU Orientation Ambassador. In her junior year she spent time volunteering for Sofia Pereira’s political campaign where she did everything from phone banking to canvassing in Arcata.

Editor’s Note: The responses have been shortened for clarity and size.

Q: Why did you decide to run?

I’m running for A.S. because I’m frustrated with our current conditions and lack of action taken to address students’ needs. We constantly hear talk about we need to change, we need to advocate, but there’s no action behind it, and I think that’s something that I’m very big on putting action behind policies.

Q: What issues do you wish to tackle as A.S. president, and why?

Food and housing insecurity, and campus and community disconnect. I think that food and housing are essential for students to be here holistically; not only getting good grades or getting a high GPA but being here and being OK and healthy. No student at a Cal State University should be homeless. No student should not have anything to eat. I think the campus community is something I want to address because I’ve stayed up here in the summer and I’ve experienced overt racism as well as microaggressions and my friends’ experiences have been really shitty. People have a hard time, they want to leave and that’s something to address because the school recruits from down south. Predominantly POC, and they don’t feel safe here.

Q: How do you plan on addressing a lack of communication between students and administration?

I think institutional support is important to actually see change because if the school is claiming to support actions, events, campus community dialogues, they should back it up with their presence at these events and funding for these events. I think it’s the role of AS to be that support and be that source of communication where students can go to get information. I think that’s where Admin needs to come in and support what AS wants to do, and what AS students want to pass. It’s not just a one-sided relationship. Although it feels like it. Again, this is me just coming from a non-student government perspective.