A.S.I.
seeks diligent advocates
By Christine G. Adamo
On-line Forty-Niner
Students
who wonder what Associated Students Inc.
has done for them lately were given an opportunity
to serve as advocates for change on Monday.
“If you want to be involved on campus, you
have to seek out what’s right for you,”
said Lauren Leahy, Cal State Long Beach
A.S.I. elections commissioner. “You have
to take steps to get there.”
Registration packets were made available
to CSULB students interested in nominating
themselves as candidates for executive,
legislative and judiciary members of student
government.
Leahy said run-off elections are expected,
particularly at the executive level where
both presidential and vice presidential
opportunities will exist.
Current A.S.I. Vice President and Senate
Chair Shahrokh Sheik, who plans to graduate
at the end of this semester, said he expects
existing executive-level members to run
for re-election because they appreciate
the benefits their positions afford them.
Leahy identified the following personality
traits as ones that would be key in providing
successful service through student government:
being personable, hardworking, well spoken
and responsible.
Sheik, who currently occupies a corner office
on the third floor of the University Student
Union, offered a few suggestions of his
own regarding successful campaigns.
“Campaign hard and campaign honestly,” Sheik
said, adding that unsavory campaign practices
are ineffective and transparent to others.
“It’s easy to get into dirty politics.”
Leahy also said students should not view
candidacy and election to an A.S.I. position
as an impossibility; rather, they should
be proactive in seeking out nomination.
“I do not feel that A.S.I. is out of reach
for any student,” Leahy said. “We get a
wide variety of people who join. I think
the main trend in all of them, however,
is that they want to feel close to the students.”
Students interested in learning about A.S.I.
online are directed from the CSULB main
page to csulb.edu/org/asi. Once there, they
can peruse general information about the
organization’s structure, activities and
services.
According to the site, A.S.I. was established
as a non-profit membership association with
the mission of improving quality of life
and educational experiences for students.
Students pay for A.S.I. membership “when
they pay their mandatory student fees at
the time of registration.”
Leahy said the election committee’s goal,
this year, is to show an increase in the
number of students who turn out to vote
in April. She estimated that 4,500 of the
approximated 35,000 students on campus in
2002 came out to vote, representing 12.9
percent of the student population.
Leahy said commuting students who say they
don’t care about student government often
offer the strongest objections such as “I
don’t care” or “I just go to school here.”
Despite erroneous postings around the College
of Business Administration building, the
official registration period began Feb.
10 and ends Feb. 20. Registration packets
were made available for pick up as of Monday
in the A.S.I. office on the third floor
of the Student Union, 311.
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