Tell us about yourself.

Hi my name is Lisette Catalán, I use she/her/her’s pronouns and am from the East Bay Area in a town called Walnut Creek, California. This is my third year and am studying Global Studies with a focus in Latin America and Environmental Justice and Resilience, alongside a minor in Spanish.

What are the three key issues that you've noticed on campus that you hope to improve for students as an elected official?
Please list each issue and briefly explain how you hope to improve it. 

There’s not enough affordable housing in close proximity to campus, the more affordable ones require either driving or walking extremely long walks. In these apartments there’s mainly people of color which I think we could combat by presenting this to whoever would be in charge and see how we could either cut down prices in apartments or other solutions. Secondly, the issue of freshman students and those who feel isolated at a PWI is something that needs to be addressed. We need to always be promoting these resources constantly, maybe even implementing a section on Canvas. We need to be more critical on the budgets we give to organizations because there are people who are receiving large amounts for fun activities rather than important causes.

Why are you running?

I am running because as a Mexican-American woman who has never involved herself much in decision-making positions, this would be a wonderful opportunity to see how I can play my part to make changes for important issues regarding student rights.