Por JOSÉ ANTONIO ROMERO
EL NUEVO SOL

Jorge Reyes and Sevag Alexanian, newly elected leaders of the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Associated Students (A.S.), will kick off their first semester in office with a 100-day initiative to encourage greater involvement of students in the issues of the campus.

Reyes, who is this year’s A.S. chief of staff, and Alexanian, who currently serves in the Lower Division senate, will take office in June for the 2015-2016 school year, after winning the election for the Strength in Unity party.

The 100-day initiative was the key plank in Strength in Unity’s platform during the campaign. The opposition party, Student Voices, said during the sole debate that they would invest more money in academics, if elected.

The objective of their initiative is to get students involved with A.S. and elaborate on how the new leaders will represent the needs and concerns of their constituents on the student government. For this, they will go to 100 classrooms in 100 days to spread awareness and demonstrate to students how they will work.

“The main purpose of the 100-day initiative is to educate students about Associated Students,” said Reyes, the president-elect. “During those presentations, we will be getting their suggestions and work on them as we receive them.”

Reyes and Alexanian, the vice president-elect, plan to work with the A.S. chair of Personnel to coordinate classroom visits with instructors.

“We will do this by teaming up with professors all around campus,” Alexanian said. “The presentation will consist of information about how you can get involved and why you should get involved.”

The presentation will take about 10 to 20 minutes to deliver in each class, according to Reyes.

During the classroom visit, they will ask the students questions of how they can improve A.S. and campus in general. This way, students will not only get face-to-face with the leaders, but they will get their voice heard with suggestions that they might have.

Suggestions will be reviewed by A.S. senators, evaluated for future actions, and moved into committee, where feasible.

“Those suggestions would become legislative referrals by senators to work on in their committees,” Reyes explained.

Students will know the results of their suggestions through official minutes of meetings on the A.S. website.

“Our meetings are open to attend and minutes are posted online for students to read,” said Reyes. “We will continue to share our successes and the change we make on campus for students.”

Kevin Contreras, who will be a senior next year, is looking forward to the 100-day initiative and said he believes that if everything goes as planned, it will be the beginning of something positive for the school.

“A.S. leaders are taking a huge risk by trying to do something different from what other leaders have done in the past,” Contreras said. “I think that if this project goes as they plan, it will be an historic event for CSUN.”

Freshman Alejandra Barajas agreed with Contreras on how relevant the participation of students is.

“I believe that A.S. is doing great by considering the students because they are the ones that represent us with the money and power,” she said. “I wish the best for the new leaders and hopefully they will represent like we deserve.”

Current president of A.S. Tiffany Zaich also believes that the 100-day initiative will be beneficial for CSUN students in the upcoming year.

“Students will learn more about the services and programs provided for them and whom they should contact when they need help or want to see a change on campus,” Zaich said.

Zaich also offered Reyes and Alexanian some advice on how to invest their time in the best way possible and avoid one obstacle that she had as president.

“The only obstacle that I faced was time,” Zaich said. “In order to implement multiple projects on campus, it is crucial to time-manage well and work together. By doing so, they will be able to overcome any obstacles that may arise.”

In terms of their initiative, Zaich said she believes it is fundamental to have the participation of students.

“Having the newly elected student leaders visit classrooms, they will reach out to more constituents and inform them about Associated Students,” said Zaich.

Reyes said he and Alexanian are excited to implement something new, like the 100-day initiative.

“We will continue to spread the word about A.S. and recruit students to be part of it,” Reyes said.

Another fundamental area of awareness that Reyes and Alexanian are trying to improve is voter turnout. This year, voter turnout was one of the highest within the last decade. The new leaders won with 4,316 votes and a total of 12.6 percent of CSUN’s 40,000 students who went to the polls on April 1 and 2.

New elected vice president Alexanian noted that 12.6 percent has been the highest turnout in recent years.

He said he hopes the numbers will continue to rise as awareness increases with the 100-day initiative, and with he and Jorge go out and represent A.S. at different campus events.

“The numbers are on a positive incline,” said Alexanian. “The next chair of elections will continue on the groundwork set forth to increase voter turnout.”

For example, A.S. sent all the students email with information on when and where they could vote. In the email, a link was also included directing students to vote online. Alexanian said this was a great idea to increase voter turnout.

“Voting online is convenient for students because it allows them to be flexible and vote at their own convenience,” said Alexanian. “Online voting has happened in the past, as well, and it definitely helped the numbers to be higher.”

Both candidates have also discussed implementing new technology to involve students in their government and improve life on campus.

“I love being able to implement positive change and make my community better than how I found it,” Alexanian said.

Alexanian will be the second vice president in his family, and he shared how important his sister has been for his political career.

“My sister, Talar Alexanian, the current vice president, serves as an inspiration to me,” Alexanian said. “Seeing the work and the effort she put into the position sparked an interest in Associated Students for me.

“Because of her, I ran for Lower-Division senator last year; this year, I got to experience the organization that she fell in love with, as did I. And now that it’s my turn to do so, I’m very excited for the challenge ahead.”

Alexanian stated that he and Reyes are ready to begin the new school year and launch their 100-day initiative.

Tags:  Associated Students CSUN Jorge Reyes José Antonio Romero Sevag Alexanian