Three current Associated Students Inc. members have begun their campaigns for the presidency. Take a look at who is who in the race and just what they hope to accomplish. Elections will take place May 9 and 10.
Brandon Souza
Agribusiness senior
1. What will your main priority as ASI president be?
“My main priority as ASI president is student safety and academic success.”
2. Why are you the best candidate for ASI president?
“Because I think experience matters and I am the most experienced candidate in ASI out of the three.”
3. What is an example of something you did on ASI that has made a difference for students?
“I have been the chairman this year of the University Union Advisory Board; I served on the Board of Directors last year for ASI; my UUAB this year was instrumental in getting the rec center pool deck, which many student use the benefits now; as well as continuing plans for plaza redesign, the upstairs redecoration of the university union and what to do with the former insomniac space. “
4. If you were ASI president last year, what would you have done differently?
“Nothing, Todd is a good friend of mine and I think that he has done a phenomenal job this year and I have been proud to have worked beside him.”
5. Will you continue on with the changes that current ASI president Todd Maki has made?
“Absolutely, and not only Todd, but I will carry on with Tyler’s items that he started out with as well as Blake Bolton and even as far Alison Anderson, because I think transparency among the presidents is very important if we expect to get things done on this campus and advocate for students in a way that’s effective for the university officials as well as the community.”
Arvand Sabetian
Civil engineering junior
1. What will your main priority as ASI president be?
“ I would actually have three priorities. The first one would be working with the city to come up with a resolution that’s friendly to both the students and residents of the city who are not students. The second issue that I would work on is internally within the students. We don’t have enough support as ASI within the students, so I will be putting on events such as CP Next. The last thing I was going to work on was continuing what the last presidents have done. For example, the bus situation that was being worked on by Todd was actually initiated by Tyler and it’s still not done.”
2. Why are you the best candidate for ASI president?
“ I’m a very well rounded person. First of all I’m the IFC president so I’m currently representing 800 to 900 men on campus, so ASI will really be the next step up. The second qualification that I have is that I currently run a business that’s grossing $150,000 a year with a four employees. Aside from that, I am on the AS I board of directors currently so I know how ASI works.”
3. What is an example of something you did on ASI that has made a difference for students?
“ I’ve worked with Todd to set up the community clean up. We had 400 students attend the last time it was set up and the next one is coming up in a week. That was 400 students showing up on a city. I have partaken in discussions regarding policies of the CSSA (California State Student Association), which is a pretty big issue within ASI because it’s like a governing body of all of the ASIs within the CSU system.”
4. If you were ASI president last year, what would you have done differently?
“ Todd has put in hours and hours of work. I feel like he’s been very productive and that he’s done a great job. If I would have done anything different, it’s that I would have taken a harsher stand with the city to make sure that we’re on the same playing field. We have really good relationship with the city, I don’t in any sort of way want to ruin that relationship, but I just want to make sure that it’s not buddy-buddy relationship where the students do the work for the city and we don’t get anything back in return.”
5. Will you continue on with the changes that current ASI president Todd Maki has made?
“Yes. Some of them are not even ones that Todd started, they started with Tyler or even with Blake before Tyler. It just doesn’t make sense to go back and not continue these changes. A lot of work has been done towards them and with just a little more effort these projects will be put to an end and students will be able to see the full results of these projects.”
Matthew Taylor
Business senior
1. What will your main priority as ASI president be?
“My main priority will be increasing the communication between students and their student leaders.”
2. Why are you the best candidate for ASI president?
“ I’m a good listener, I work well with other people, and I’m interested in bringing in the best people in and out of ASI to work together.”
3. What is an example of something you did on ASI that has made a difference for students?
“ I worked with the student grievance board working on providing a better avenue to settle grade disputes for students.”
4. If you were ASI president last year, what would you have done differently?
“ I think Todd’s done a fantastic job this year, and I don’t really see that many things I could have done differently besides trying to get students more involve.”
5. Will you continue on with the changes that current ASI president Todd Maki has made?
“ Of course, it’s very important to make sure that the things that Todd has done and the presidents before him have done will not stop beginning with my term.”