Kemp gives his balance sheet

File Photo

Associated Students Inc. President Carl Kemp held up a campaign poster Wednesday that enumerated the various promises made to students as he campaigned his way into office last spring.

His three-week bid for A.S.I. president, in retrospect, was a non-stop drive to attract the attention of Cal State Long Beach students, he said.

"All those [campaign promises] were crazy ideas," Kemp said, pointing at his campaign poster. "Our motto is 'Breaking barriers by any means necessary.' That means we're going to think out of the box."

At the halfway point of his term this semester, Kemp talked about the promises he made on his campaign posters.

Kemp said his "Register First - Pay Later" promise turned into a reality as he worked with Joe Latter, CSULB associate vice president of financial management, to develop a plan that extends the installment-payment period and reduces the up-front costs required to register for classes.

"I've had a lot of responses from people on the [installment] plan," Kemp said. "I was on the plan so I know it's a big hassle trying to make those big payments one month apart."

The new policy will go into effect during spring 1996 when the fall semester registration begins. Kemp said he hopes to improve on the plan by requiring only a $100 deposit to register for classes, which is $49 less than the new policy requires.

Kemp also promised a "24-Hour Library," which has resulted in a pilot program that extends the Academic Computing Lab's hours until 2 a.m. Kemp said the program has had mixed results.

Locked doors and student safety concerns marred the initial implementation. Kemp said he wants to use these lessons to finetune the plans for a New Media Center in the North Campus Library, scheduled to open in spring 1996.

"I don't think a 24-hour library is a good idea because students aren't using it until four in the morning," Kemp said.

He added that the University Library's hours will not change, but said that the New Media Center, with its many Power Macs available to students, would be an ideal location for extended hours.

Hours, Kemp said, should reflect the needs of students who work during the week, so he has proposed extending Friday and Saturday night hours in exchange for shorter hours during the week.

Kemp also promised "More Classes." He said he has used his position as A.S.I. president, and the access it provides, to lobby for increased faculty money. He said he also wants to keep remedial education available to students.

"Keeping remedial education is one of those issues that's got to be attached to more classes," he said. "The five-year time line [to phase out remedial education] they set forth is similar to the GOP seven-year time line for balancing the budget. It's kind of an impossibility. It's too quick."

"Bigger Concerts" for students was another campaign promise and Kemp concedes it has been one of his toughest goals to meet.

"We kind of stumbled out of the blocks because it was not as easy as any of us thought it would be," he explained.

Kemp also said he feels that he has kept his word and fulfilled most of his campaign promises.

Kemp said he plans a new agenda for 1996, targeting issues he thinks are important to students, such as remedial education and federal student-aid funding.

"We've reached cruising altitude," he said. "We've got to try to go up and find some turbulence. We'll be doing that during the wintertime. In spring we'll have a whole new plan for the last three months."