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news:
A.S.I. president
moves in
By Marten Lewerth
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
While many Cal
State Long Beach students are away from campus this summer,
senior Wayne Stickney-Smith is busy moving into what he calls
his "new home."
This "home"
is an office reserved for the Associated Students Inc. president,
tucked in a corner of the A.S.I. governmental office on the
second floor of the University Student Union.
Predecessor Robert
Garcia is gone, and Stickney-Smith is putting the finishing
touches on the modest space with an attached balcony that
affords a pleasant view of The Pyramid. The walls are covered
with pictures of family and friends, and a corner shelf brims
with personal belongings, including Stickney-Smith's "little
buddy," a black goldfish named Maximus Proximus that
lives in a fishbowl adorned with a "Go Beach" sticker.
The final step, says the communications major, will be figuring
out how to display his most prized possessions -- a large stack
of yellow and green ticket stubs collected from campus sporting
events.
After squaring
away his office, Stickney-Smith will get back to the transitional
work of preparing for his upcoming tenure.
"It's going
to be great," he says. "There's probably going to
be a few bumps in the road, but we'll get through it."
Along with vice-president
Danny Vivian, treasurer Rosa Hernandez and aide Chris Dollar,
Stickney-Smith says his biggest task this year will be working
toward fostering higher student involvement and promoting
cultural diversity within the campus community.
"The best
way to make things happen is build relationships and communication,"
he says, "because people aren't happy unless they know
what's going on."
There are a lot
of things going on in preparation to accomplish these goals,
he says, but outlining them at this point would be speculative
at best.
"Our mission
is to provide services to students," he says. "I
have to look out for everybody. The only thing I can do is
work on creating more interest in doing something."
Involvement in
student government is nothing new to Stickney-Smith. At Twentynine
Palms High School, he served as associated student body president
and as a school board representative while also running cross
country.
"He was the
hardest working, most dedicated, responsible student member
I can remember working with," says current Twentynine
Palms High School Principal Amy Woods, who was an activities
director during Stickney-Smith's time at the school. "He
was a very good leader, extremely organized. I just cannot
say enough positive things about him."
Stickney-Smith
says he was initially interested in attending UC Santa Barbara
after graduating in 1997. However, one visit to the CSULB
campus and a meeting with President Robert Maxson changed
his mind.
"I was sold
after I spoke to him," he says, "I wanted to come
here."
Because of his
academic performance in high school, Stickney-Smith qualified
for the President's Scholars program, in which students receive
scholarships that cover four years of study expenses.
"I recruited
him personally," Maxson says. "He's a superstar.
What I love most about Wayne is that he loves this university,
he's committed to helping make this university the best it
can be."
"If it wasn't
for that scholarship," Stickney-Smith says, "I probably
wouldn't have been able to attend a four-year college right
away. It gave me an opportunity to be involved and I feel
really lucky."
Stickney-Smith
will have many responsibilities in his new role as A.S.I.
president, according to the organization's bylaws. Among many
other things he will serve as chief executive officer of the
Associated Students Inc., and serve as the official representative
and host of the group to the administration of the university
and general public. He will also supervise, coordinate, advise
and assist in appointing aides and students to student-faculty
committees. Additionally, he will be a member of the Academic
Senate and will have the power of general or line item veto
over measures adopted by that entity.
Stickney-Smith
will bring thoughtfulness and a lot of energy to the position,
says Armando Contreras, executive assistant to President Maxson.
"I've seen
him grow a lot as a person since his first year here,"
Contreras says. "We're all excited about him. He's symbolic
of the President's Scholars program and what it's all about."
For his commitment
and time in this elected position, Stickney-Smith says he
will receive a grant that will cover tuition for the year,
as well as $1,000 per month plus funds to cover traveling
and food expenses.
Although he was
involved in student government in high school, Stickney-Smith
says he had no real plans of getting involved with anything
except running at the collegiate level.
"I first came
to school not wanting to be involved because I was over-saturated
in high school," he says. "I was only going to run
track and cross country here the first year."
But this would
change during his sophomore year. Through his involvement
with the cross country and track programs, Stickney-Smith
was elected president of the Student Athlete Advisory Council,
which led to working with then A.S.I. President Toby Sexton.
Along with Sexton,
Stickney-Smith worked on what would later become the Beach
Pride Referendum, an initiative that called for an increase
in student fees by $21 per year to help fund athletic-related
programs on campus.
"That changed
my life in terms of people respecting me," he says.
When Robert Garcia
claimed the presidency last year, he recruited Stickney-Smith
to work for his administration.
"He asked
me to be his aide for internal affairs," Stickney-Smith
explains. "I wrote a lot of proposals, initiatives and
put together president's mixers."
By working with
Sexton and Garcia, he received a first-hand look at the inner
workings of A.S.I., and decided to run for president this
past November.
"A lot of
people talked about it off and on throughout the whole year
and it was always kind of in my mind," he says.
One thing Stickney-Smith
is glad about is that the elections are over with.
"I didn't
like the elections," he says. "I feel that I came
off a little fake, like I wasn't in my natural setting."
This year's election
featured five candidates for the presidential position, as
opposed to last year when Garcia ran unopposed. After the
initial three-day period of voting ended, it was announced
on April 4 that there would be a runoff election because no
one candidate claimed the majority -- 50 percent plus one --
needed to ensure victory.
Stickney-Smith
missed that majority by 14 votes, receiving 1,365 votes, or
49.6 percent. His nearest front-runner was David Love, who
received 491 votes, or 17.8 percent.
The runoff between
Stickney-Smith and Love ended in Stickney-Smith's favor, but
an incident involving the candidates sparked tensions before
the process was completed.
Love made public
an email sent to him on April 17, in which Stickney-Smith
encouraged Love to "step out of the race."
"Looking back
on it, it's sad," Stickney-Smith says. "I was trying
to tell him that I wanted to work with him next year because
I know his issues represent a constituency on campus."
Stickney-Smith
adds that Love asked him to run for another position earlier
in the campaign, and also encouraged two of the other presidential
candidates to step down before the first ballot was cast.
"Because of
what happened, the relationship between [Love's] constituency
and me has been strained," Stickney-Smith says. "It
really hurt me when he tried to pull that stunt, and I think
it did get him a lot more votes.
"Personally,
he violated a lot of trust," he adds. "Before the
elections I considered him a friend, but I don't really care
for him anymore."
Regardless of the
incident involving Love during the elections, Stickney-Smith
says his No. 1 priority is to the students at CSULB.
"Listening
to others is the key," he says. "If students want
to talk to me, they can at any time. I'm just like them, just
a regular student, but with a different kind of responsibility."
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