About

My name is Apoorva Prakash and I’m a third year Computer Science and Economics major, running to be one of your next ASUC* Senators!

As a woman in STEM, I don’t find our STEM communities to be inclusive to womxn and underrepresented students. I am upset that we don’t treat menstrual products as a fundamental right on this campus, though a majority of our campus menstruates. And while I am blessed to have found a home in so many communities on this campus (the pre-law community*, the Greek community*, the dance community*, amongst others), I know we can improve risk practices in our RSOs. With that being said, I want to inspire change on our campus through my campaign and as an ASUC* Senator!

Platforms

MENSTRUAL EQUITY

• Insisting on free menstrual products in ALL bathrooms on campus
  • Menstrual products are absolutely essential for our students. Not having guaranteed access to menstrual products while on campus makes it so much harder for students to focus on their education!
  • Of course, not all who menstruate are womxn! We need to be as inclusive as possible while providing basic needs to all students.
• Identifying menstrual products as a basic need and human right for all students
  • If we can expect toilet paper and paper towels in our bathrooms, there’s no reason we shouldn’t safely be able to expect menstrual products as well.
  • It is important we acknowledge global period poverty, and realize that this affects students on our campus as well.
• Supporting organizations uplifting reproductive justice on campus and beyond

SUPPORTING WOMXN IN STEM/TECH

• Facilitating womxn-focused networking opportunities within STEM/Tech fields
  • Corporate America largely disadvantages womxn, which means that recruiting/career events can be stressful for womxn students, particularly in STEM fields where such career fairs are crucial.
  • Drawing inspiration from conferences like Grace Hopper*, which advocate for diverse hiring and uplifting womxn in STEM, organizing similar opportunities for UC* Berkeley students would help womxn students overcome the inherent biases that hinder their careers.
• Supporting STEM/Tech RSOs in striving towards gender parity in their membership and leadership
  Gender demographics of STEM/Tech student organizations on campus should reflect the demographic of all students in STEM/Tech.
  Officer boards of tech organizations are overwhelmingly made up of male-identifying students, which seems statistically unlikely without gender bias in officer selections.
• Advising STEM/Tech RSOs recruitment and retention efforts to be more womxn-inclusive
  • STEM/Tech RSOs should be encouraged to introduce initiatives to help and empower their womxn members.
  • Members of STEM/Tech RSOs should understand and acknowledge the biases facing womxn in their field, and make tangible efforts to overcome them.

HIGHER RISK STANDARDS FOR RSOs

• Creating standardized risk education curriculum as a resource for RSOs
  • While ASUC* directly manages RSOs and their funding, their risk requirements on RSOs are weak and not enforced.
  • In recent years, UC Berkeley* RSOs have had many bad risk incidents, including incidents of sexual violence and discrimination.
  • Developing educational resources for student organizations in topics that affect all our students is crucial, as it is essential for all UC Berkeley* standards to maintain high standards of risk management.
• Mandating that all RSOs undergo risk management training in various topics, such as alcohol/drugs, SVSH, mental health, and hazing
  • Restructuring the training that students are required to do before becoming signatories of RSOs.
  • Creating risk workshops for all students, and providing resources for RSOs to facilitate their own risk workshops, whether internal or external.
  • Incentivizing and enforcing that RSOs require all members to learn about risk management and adopt better risk practices.
• Incentivizing better risk practices at RSO events
  • Advocating for consent talks at social events, reducing the stigma behind discussing sexual violence preventaion.
  • Encouraging our RSOs to adopt more sustainable practices as well.

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