The Kowalski pamphlet
Written and Submitted by Lynnea Dieana (a pseudonym)
This article is an anonymous OPINION piece submitted by one of our readers following our Vox Anonyma Interview with Cash Kowalski and Maria Soto. The claims made by the author were verified to the best of our abilities, though readers should employ caution as many subjective claims are made. Make sure to check out our interview with him to hear more about his campaign.
As we all know, the ASUO election is in full swing. It has been a year characterized by the harm and missteps of ASUO - the egregious scheduling of the concert nobody asked for on the same day as NASU’s Mother’s Day Powwow and the removal of student referendum funding are the first that come to mind. ASUO has a longstanding history of silencing and working against cultural and political action organizations that have been created by and for UO students; ironically, considering its own claim that it itself is by and for students. This election is one that holds huge weight moving forward, and there is a hope that it will be taken seriously by the voters.
I have known Cash since first term his freshman year and would have up until recently said that he was a close friend. However, it is my sincere belief that Cash Kowalski is the worst choice for ASUO president on the ballot. Kowalski has consistently shown himself to be involved in aspects of ASUO that are ineffective and harmful.
This is the second year that ASUO has scheduled its concert on Mother’s Day weekend; the same time as NASU’s 56th annual Mother’s Day Powwow. After agreeing last year not to do it again, they continued a long-standing legacy of violating agreements between predominantly-white institutions and the Native communities which they claim to serve.
After a packed senate meeting on March 13, NASU and supporting students made it clear that the concert needed to be canceled. In the aftermath, Kowalski states, “There is so much restorative healing and connections and conversations that need to be had.” What he fails to mention is that these conversations need to be had because of harm that he directly caused -
As the ASUO Secretary of Engagement, Kowalski was a central member of the committee that planned this year’s concert. He had known about the date of the concert since this fall term.
He mentions his role on the Protect the Powwow committee, conveniently not mentioning he earned a place on it through directly harming our Indigenous community through his role on the original planning committee. Even as his VP takes accountability
for the ASUO senate’s role in the concert event, Cash continues to defend his original position, saying it’s what they thought the students wanted. In an especially condescending moment, he calls NASU “commendable” for inviting senate members to their events and into their spaces in a recent interview on the podcast Vox Anonyma.
He goes on to say, “As an educator, . . . I know what it means to have restorative conversations and what those look like”, referring to the conversations he claims to be having with NASU and other parties who have been harmed by ASUO’s actions. Kowalski’s identity as an “educator” is one that he constantly deflects to when defending his mistakes, as if it provides him moral superiority.
He tells an origin story of finding community on campus - talking about how the first time he felt he was part of the campus community was when he found the Aspiring Educators club at the Street Faire Fall term of his Freshman year - the Aspiring Educators did not table at that event, nor were they present in any official capacity. While he has certainly been involved with the Aspiring Educators program, he touts their name around and uses it as a credential however he sees fit. He ties this educator identity he is creating to the Street Faire - his signature event - to emphasize its importance, and hence his own. It’s critical to mention that the concert’s scheduling was directly tied to the scheduling of this Spring Street Fair. The concert’s scheduling is because of Street Fair, and the Street Fair is run by . . .
Aspiring Educators is where he found community, but he lies about how he found it. He says over and over again that he wants to be an educator, though his actions reflect someone who is a politician at heart. He says he knows how to have restorative conversations, but if this were true, he would know that restorative justice is rooted in Indigenous practices, and hence - our Native communities must be central to the work we do. He obviously does not know this, and if he does, he does not care. Instead, Kowalski takes power where he wants it and takes it at the cost of marginalized voices.
He wants to hide behind being an aspiring educator - but he is a general social studies major. Concentration? Crime law in society. There is a general social studies concentration for teaching.
The closer you look, the less is clear about what is true when it comes to Kowalski’s candidacy. What does become clear is a consistent manipulation of facts, systems, and people to achieve whatever is in his own best interest.
An ASUO presidency with Kowalski at the helm would, at best, represent a continuation of the status quo. At worst, it would signify yet another over-eager white man playing politics - showing no regard for who he harms or steps over in the process.