Michael Nguyen: Mayoral Candidate Interview

Duncan: It’s great to have you here.

Michael: Thank you.

Duncan: Yeah, how’s your day been?

Michael: Been alright, how about yours?

Duncan: It’s been pretty good, thank you. So obviously, the big issue this election is kind of, you know, stuff with the borders changes and the dorms all that. Everyone's platform has got something about it. So I would like to know personally, what do you feel is more important: Protecting borders freedom or encouraging their engagement in the broader Indian Springs community? 

Michael: My say is this: I'd say the border should have more freedom, because I did read the Woodward post and skimmed over a couple of times and the main idea of it was probably about collective punishment.

Duncan: Yes, Jeremy's paper.

Michael: I see that has been a major thing last year as well because probably one of the main reasons why dorms implemented this new policy was because last year a lot of dorms have been oversleeping, kept sneaking into the dorms–  those were just a  couple individuals I estimate. Those actions led to punishment on the others, which I think is pretty unfair. But as a day student I think that's just my opinion. And– I’d say the freedom really matters.

Duncan: Great, yeah. So kind of on that note, there is– what they cite as the reason a lot is, that there's a kind of gap between the day students and the boarders, you know, they don't interact; like they're two different social groups. Do you feel that is the case? And if you do feel it is the case, do you think that gap– like it's kind of urgent that that gap be closed? 

Michael: I don't really feel like there is a gap, really as myself from personal experience. I've made friends with a lot of boarders, although they speak Chinese most of the time. Most of them are Chinese. I'm Vietnamese, I can't really speak Chinese, but I still do get along with them. They do fairly speak English and it's still pretty nice to be friends with boarders and day time students for sure. But the main issue, if there is a gap, I'd say, is because probably there's none of the interaction, probably some social anxiety right there to approach someone who lives at the school. And when you're– when you just keep going to the school and not staying there, just go to the school and do your education, talk to your friends in your classes and then go out, the boarders [are a different case]. They have day time and all the time student interaction in classes. I don't really knows what. I don't really know what happens, but from experience, I'd say that there really isn't a gap.

Duncan: Interesting. That's definitely a new response. 

Michael: Oh. 

Duncan: Yeah I know, but I can see your point 100%. Okay, so just continuing on, A lot of boarders and day students alike feel that their rights aren't being—their rights as they're outlined in the Indian Springs Constitution—they feel that those rights aren't being upheld by the current, you know, administration, meaning, you know, like the admins and all that. Do you think that the administration is effectively upholding those rights?

(pause)

Duncan: If you need an example of one of those rights, I do have the Constitution pulled up.

Michael: Sure.

Duncan: Okay. Right to freedom of religion, speech, inquiry and criticism. Right of students to select representatives and the government. Right to run for public office. Right to petition the Council—the council’s student government—or faculty. The right to assemble peacefully. The right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Do you feel that those rights are being upheld?

Michael: I strongly agree. Those agreements are being upheld. As I think they are being upheld because students do participate in civic rights and also participate in Studgov and a lot of other things that are incorporated in the school. But I think the main problem is about what the people think. And although they do run some…

(Pause)

Michael: Sorry um…

Duncan: No, all good, take your time. I mean it's good to think about the responses you give.

(Pause)

Michael: Students do run most of the, like, COS, COP, those positions.

Duncan: Yeah, the Commissioners.

Michael: I’d say that represents somewhat where people can vote and are voted as electives, which the constitution says. I’d say it is being upheld, but the problem is that…

(Pause)

Michael: Probably I’m gonna have to quote Jeremy Again: “collective punishment.” 

Duncan: I’ve talked about that with some other candidates. It's definitely– I think the feeling generally with collective punishment is that, obviously, it's punishing many for the acts of few. So it makes students feel like the administration thinks that they are– they aspire to do bad because a few individuals in their larger culture have done bad. And I think it has varying effects. It can put words in your mouth. Ok, last of the general questions, how do you feel about the amount of power that student government has? Do you think as mayor, you would, you know, kind of keep it the same, maybe change how it's structured, expand student government's power; what would you do?

Michael: For expansion, I'd say student government right now is good because if we add more, it's going to get more complicated to keep other powers in check as more and more commissioners in other branches… if they keep getting added, it'd be harder to keep each power in check. And yeah. And for the others, could you repeat the question one more time?

Duncan: Oh yeah all good, just the amount of power that student government has. I mean, you were talking about it.

Michael: I'd also say that student government has quite a lot of power, but is fairly limited. Because it still seems that for safety Mr. Colvin has quite a lot of power along with other administrative people and faculty and I know they're putting these policies on for safety. But I say that kind of restricts student government quite a lot. 

Duncan: Yeah. So you think some of the administration's policies are restricting student government's ability to kind of move and operate as you would like to see them operate. Is that accurate?

Michael: Often, yes.

Duncan: So, obviously you are the youngest candidate. What would you say to people who feel that, you know, a sophomore should not be mayor? 

Michael: What I would address to those allegations, I say: does it matter how old they are or what grade they are in? As long as they have that leadership and determination to change something and propose it to the people, they should do it. They shouldn't just stay in the shadows and just view it without telling other people. They should just stand up for it and face it. 

Duncan: Great, yeah. So, I see here on your platform also, you have something called a 60-second Student Spotlight, and I think that's pretty interesting. Just looking through it, most candidates are looking for ways to, you know, make town meetings more fun, more engaging, and this really seems like a great way. It's something that I haven't really heard anyone say before. So what's your kind of vision for the 60-second student spotlight?

Michael: when I thought about this. I thought this would be fun instead of the mayor going up to speak about something. But if something is major and is causing troubles at the school, obviously the mayor would have to go up and address these and that wouldn't happen. But I see, just like the– shiver off the, social anxiety, I'd say, of the others being afraid to talk and introducing new students in. Also regular students who are attending the school just go up, share something about themselves, or do something funny, say a joke. But also, I'm scared that this might make town hall longer. And yeah, a lot of people kind of fall asleep in that. I hope that this will wake up the people at the beginning of the town hall. Oh yeah, they can be expecting something like: “what's going to happen next after this?”

Duncan: Where the students would kind of come in is on days where, you know, the mayor is just going up there to kind of– instead of the mayor going up there and just talking to start town meeting, you would get a student to take that role.

Michael: Yeah.

Duncan: I really like that. I think that’s a great way to keep things engaging.

Michael: Yeah because I don't really want it to be centered around myself. But yeah, I'd really love to see other people just go up. 

Duncan: Yeah. That's great. I think that keeping the community engaged like that, that's really great. All right. Well, that is all I have. 

Michael: Oh, thank you.

Duncan: I’m excited to see how things will go.

Michael: Yes sir.