Kyle McCarty
Special to Mustang News
Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) is considering bringing student government alumni into a more formal role at ASI, civil engineering junior and ASI board member Connor Paquin said.
The idea came about when a group of enthusiastic alumni organized themselves into a council that has been informally providing current ASI representatives with advice, Paquin said.
ASI wanted to find a way to recognize the contributions of this group.
Because students are typically only part of ASI for 2 to 3 years, developing a sense of history and knowing how problems have been dealt with in the past can be difficult, former ASI president Brandon Souza said. Alumni mentoring can help current representatives learn from the past.
Souza, who currently works for an ad agency in Sacramento and was ASI president in 2008, sees alumni’s role as providing general feedback, rather than advising on specific policies.
“We’ve had our time, it’s not about getting back on campus,” Souza said. “It’s more about mentorship.”
ASI created a committee with the specific task of making a recommendation about the role of alumni in ASI. Options ranged from doing nothing at all to creating a “fourth branch” of student government, Paquin said.
Paquin headed up the committee that looked at what should be done with alumni, and ultimately recommended that a standing committee be made.
A standing committee would meet every week, would work on specific projects and have a mission statement, Paquin said. The goal would be to have an equal number of current students and alumni on the alumni committee, Paquin said.
“This is a better way to collaborate with students,” Paquin said.
Alumni would not have a voting role, and would continue to provide mentorship, rather than advice on specific policies, Paquin said.
For now, there is still no alumni standing committee. An ASI board member needs to write and submit a bill before a vote can take place, and no one has stepped forward to write the bill yet, Paquin said.
The alumni council would benefit Cal Poly students through making current student government representatives more effective leaders, Paquin said.
“If we can be better leaders, we can do more for students,” Paquin said.
Engagement with ASI alumni could result in increased donations to the university, Souza said. Because of Cal Poly’s distant location from major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, getting alumni to come back to the university can be a challenge.
“If alumnus can connect, they’ll inevitably and hopefully want to give back,” Souza said.
Donations could come monetarily, but also through the time alumni give to help current students, Souza said.
Alumni’s bond with the university makes them want to continue to help out, Souza said.
“I think everyone has this really deep love and affection for Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo,” Souza said.