Phil Coba

Running for External Vice President

 

Hello Everyone,

My name is Phil Coba, I am a first generation Mixed Race student who is running for the position of External Vice President. After three years of working in the External Office, I have accumulated many different positions including Lobby Corps Director, Legislative Liaison, Co-Local Affairs Liaison and Campus Action Team staff. Due to holding so many positions in the External Office for so many years, I consider myself an exceptionally qualified candidate for External Vice President.

 

When I entered the External Office as a freshman in spring 2013, I was appointed the position of Lobby Corps Director and still hold the position today. As Lobby Corp Director I have been able to lobby on behalf of our students at the City, State, and recently at the Federal level. I have lobbied on behalf of UC students to increase diversity on campuses, to award financial aid to undocumented students, to help put a stop to sexual assault on campuses, and to increase funding for the UC.

 

In Fall 2014 I was appointed to work with Local Affairs as the Co-Local Affairs Liaison, another position that I still hold to this day. I have worked closely with the other Local Affairs Liaison to ensure that student’s concerns about the city and county of Merced are being heard. We have attended city council and Board of Supervisors of the county meetings and presented on issues such as safer sidewalks to and from campus, students concerns with the Bellevue Bike lane and are currently working to address how to make students feel safer outside of campus. In the short semester we have been working together, we were able to secure over 1 million dollars towards the restauration of sidewalks near campus and near CatTracks stops. We are still working towards bettering bike lanes in the City of Merced.

 

At the beginning of this semester I was appointed the position of Legislative Liaison. With this position I was granted a seat the University Of California Student Association (UCSA) Board of Directors. Here students meet monthly from almost every UC to discuss issues that affect the UC system as a whole. I serve often times as the proxy vote for the External Vice President. As the Legislative Liaison I vote on Legislation for UCSA to follow and advocate strongly for. I have also held a Teach-in answering questions about the divestment resolution approved by UCSA in February.

 

Having held all these positions, I have been able to attend and help plan numerous conferences including UCSA and United States Student Association (USSA) congress, the UCSA Student Lobby Conference and USSA Leg con, and the Students of Color Conference. Congress for both UCSA and USSA is an opportunity to get firsthand experience on the campaigns we will be advocating for and lobbing on for the rest of the year. The Student Lobby Conference (SLC) and Leg con are both opportunities to gather students together and collectively lobby to both State Representatives at SLC and Federal Representatives in their DC offices with Leg con. The Students of Color Conference brings together students from different UC’s (and sometimes community colleges) to discuss each other’s racial issues and stand in solidarity with each other. It also encourages students to educate others on the issues discussed.

 

I enjoy all the work I do in the External Office and would like to continue it. And for all the reasons above I am the most qualified candidate running for this position. Support me by voting Phil Coba for the External Vice President position.