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Eduardo Ochoa fields a question from Karissa Barnett, a freshman economics major, about the university blood drive suspension.
Commentary:
Nervous candidate to fall back on ethnicity
By: Elisha Maldonado
Posted: 5/12/08
It's rib-tickling that SJSU's presidential race is so reminiscent of the one going on at the national level: two men (one man being a minority), one woman - and no shining star.
However, there is perhaps the proverbial flickering neon light. In bright pink and blue, the letters O-C-H-O-A are illuminated.
I say this because Eduardo Ochoa, the SJSU presidential candidate from Sonoma State University, seems likely to become the new SJSU president. I don't say it because I think he is the best in the bunch - I am fairly confident I won't be happy with any of them - but because he represents a hot button issue: ethnic diversity.
Yes, it seems Ochoa is likely to win because they (the people who make the decisions but who are never seen) want to demonstrate how open they are to everyone.
But I wonder if he is up to the task; he doesn't exactly exude confidence.
When speaking at the open forum Thursday morning, Ochoa looked nervous; his hands were clasped in front of him the entire time and he stuttered through his answers as if afraid to speak slowly, methodically and with intention - as if he were making up his answers while plodding along.
He, of course, began his oratory by complimenting SJSU (a bit I find trifling) and then waited for the deluge of questions - all of which were a bit soft.
This, of course, elicited soft responses.
Ochoa was asked, simply, why he wanted to be president of SJSU. He answered, mundanely, that SJSU's mission is a wonderful one. Really, I don't want a politically correct answer. Why should he get this job?
Compared with his counterparts, though, Ochoa strikes me as the one who will get along with others on the playground.
Jon Whitmore, on the other hand, a candidate from Texas Tech University, seems like the recess bully who will do whatever he wants. Whitmore said he wasn't "fully informed" on the budget and cultural diversity of SJSU, which leads me to think he doesn't have a clear understanding of SJSU in the first place. (If he did, he would be all-too-aware that SJSU epitomizes cultural diversity and that the budget issue is one of the latest in a string of controversies.)
Elizabeth Grobsmith's vacuous answer concerning President Kassing's blood drive ban - would she change it? - was a little too evasive for my taste. She said, "That is a very difficult question, and I think would need to come to better understand the context and environment in which that decision was reached."
I advise she concoct an original answer soon because this issue isn't a light one, especially among the SJSU community.
As for Ochoa, he said he didn't have any changes he would make outright, which concerns me slightly. Surely, he isn't in complete agreement with everything Kassing and his administration has done.
I know the aphorism is that they save the best for last, but what I can't ascertain is if there is a "best" among the three. (That goes for the national race, too).
Though any dirt - or any real information for that matter - on Ochoa was hard to find, it seems that he is the only candidate with experience in the CSU system; he is the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Sonoma State University.
But, again, Ochoa holds the ethnicity factor over his competitors.
So it would seem, Ochoa, an Argentine and a first-generation American, he said, would understand and embrace the diversity that is SJSU.
Check one for Ochoa.
Click here for more coverage of the president search.
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