Associated Student Body holds candidate forum

American River College Student Senate Director of Finance candidate Jorge Riley continued his campaign on Thursday, April 11, by participating in a rally at the student center. The rally started just after 1 p.m. and lasted nearly an hour as the student body was given an opportunity to question Riley and five other speakers in a public forum.

After a 30 minute presentation from Riley and the other five candidates, the group made themselves available for questions. Over 10 students associated with the LGBTQA student organization, Fierce, were in attendance with signs voicing their opposition of both Riley and former ARC student and Los Rios Student Trustee candidate Luke Otterstand, who has recently switched his campaign to Consumes River College. The group questioned Riley about his support of Proposition 8 during the 2008-09 school year due to the surrounding controversy that occurred at the time.

“I stand by my religious views before anything else,” Riley said when questioned.

On Tuesday, April 9, the group sent out a press release demonstrating their concerns.

“A candidate for office should be willing and able to represent all views to the best of their ability, and should concentrate on representing views pertaining to the education of college students, not their opinions on civil rights,” the press release stated.

Riley does not place the same level of merit upon the pictures, or his support of Proposition 8 several years ago. “Not everybody agrees on everything,” he said. “You should be able to say anything you want and offend anyone you want.”

Riley also went on to state that he believes the actions of Fierce and its supporters are immature and a “wasted” use of energy.

“This is college, people need to grow up,” Riley said.

Riley concluded by attempting to add perspective on his candidacy for office while stating his resolve.

“Being who I am has never stopped me from helping anyone,” Riley said. “I choose not to sell out on my views.”