Dear Stanford Community,
Over the past few weeks, the ASSU has been going through a significant transition period. Following Munira Alimire’s decision to step down from the ASSU executive president position, we have been focused on building our team to match the considerable need for institutional advocacy work at this time. During this change, we remain committed to advocating for your needs, especially around the Campus Compact, housing security, affordability issues, protections for sexual assault survivors on and off campus and support for international students.
As the ASSU continues its work while carrying Munira’s vision, we’ve gotten the opportunity to interview incredible candidates to fill the ASSU vice president position and are in the final round of interviews with the following candidates: Mea Anderson, Christian Giadolor and Chris Middleton. Their bios are included below. We are excited to uplift their incredible organizing work and commitment to working towards a more just and inclusive Stanford.
We invite you to submit comments on these candidates as we move forward by emailing [email protected] before a candidate is selected on Sunday, Sept. 27. Though pressing student needs necessitate a fast-paced selection process, we want to include the community’s voice in our decisions as best we can.
Again, please get to know the final candidates below. We are humbled by the opportunity to work with such inspiring student leaders.
With love,
Vianna Vo, ASSU Executive President
Jianna So, ASSU Executive Chief of Staff
Mea Anderson (they/she) is a senior majoring in African and African American Studies with minors in Spanish and linguistics. Mea is passionate about developing solidarity networks for students of marginalized identities in order to dismantle the systemic barriers that prevent equitable access to Stanford resources. Throughout their time at Stanford, Mea has staffed and held leadership roles for the Office of Student Engagement, Stanford ResEd, the Black Community Services Center, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Xi Beta Chapter and more. Mea plans to utilize the skills in leadership and community building that they have gained from each of these experiences to advocate for students’ needs through the 2020-21 ASSU vice president position.
Christian Giadolor (he/him) is a senior studying political science and has extensive ASSU experience — from being a SAPling to working on the past two elections, most notably as the outgoing elections commissioner. During his tenure, Christian presided over the first virtual general election in Stanford history and reversed a multi-year decline in voting turnout. This summer, Christian led advocacy efforts in his hometown for racial justice, successfully securing reforms at the city council, school district and police department levels while doing so in one of the most conservative communities in the country. Christian applied to be vice president so that he could work shoulder-to-shoulder with ASSU President Vianna Vo to ensure continuity during these challenging times and is guided by the principle that all students should be served effectively by the ASSU, whether they are on campus or remote. On a personal note, Christian enjoys tracking hurricanes, following the NBA playoffs and was a contestant on Stanford Survivor and Stanford Love is Blind.
Chris Middleton is a proud FLI alum (B.A. ’16) and current third-year student at Stanford Law School. Throughout his time at Stanford, he has enjoyed the opportunity to support current students as a member of the undergraduate/graduate student staff in the FLI Office, as an alumnus and as a student advocate. He decided to apply to the VP position because he hopes to leverage his varied experiences at Stanford to support the ASSU — and the Stanford community — in navigating a truly challenging time. Chris is a fierce believer that meaningful inclusion of student voices in decisions that impact students are critical to making good decisions and preparing students to be engaged leaders. If appointed, Chris would be particularly excited to focus on: 1) addressing mental health issues caused by social isolation on campus due to the compact; 2) meeting students’ basic needs; 3) developing the University’s statement of support for Black members of the Stanford community into tangible policies and practices; and 4) planning for future emergencies that the Stanford community might face.
Contact Vianna Vo at viannavo ‘at’ assu.stanford.edu and Jianna So at jiannaso ‘at’ assu.stanford.edu.