AS Elections 2016: Meet Director of Student Advocacy candidate Micca Cao

Independent candidate Dan "Micca" Cao, originally from Eastern China, was inspired to run for Director of Student Advocacy in the 2016 Associated Students Election by experiences she had in China, South Africa, and America. In China, she observed the corrupt government. In South Africa, she saw poverty and children with unrecognized potential that others forget to value. In America, she pursued education in order to achieve her goal of becoming a philanthropist and international human rights lawyer.

Cao is a former member of Phi Theta Kappa and Alpha Gamma Sigma, two scholar organizations that focus on community service. She hopes to eventually graduate from the University of Columbia.

Cao goes out of her way daily to discuss events face-to-face with students. She creates a personal form of promotion that engages AS with students.

Promotion isn't her only goal though. She wants to fix communication between students, AS members, and administration. Additionally, she wants to bring to the table the issue of international students and their under-representation among AS.

Her last main goal is to increase the amount of full-time faculty on campus in order to benefit the students. Cao elaborates, "I think it’s very hard to get full-time faculty because of the budget, but I'm pretty sure if you create an environment among professors that advocate to be more responsible and involved with students, it will improve the situation."

Overall, when asked to pitch herself in one sentence, she said, "I'm just one of you guys."