A.S. President Abel Pacheco. Photo Credit: Caitlin McCarrick / Assistant Photo Editor

Hello fellow students,

This is Abel Pacheco with another update from Associated Students.

Elections are coming up, and I encourage you to support the following referenda:

l The GPA requirement for Senators will be raised from 2.0 to 2.5. This will promote a more responsible Senate that can spend less time worrying about a borderline academic standing and more time advocating on behalf of students. Your student leadership must begin to hold themselves to a higher standard.

l The next motion will bring more accountability to the Senate by increasing competition for seats. Senators are most effective when they represent a narrow constituency that they can advocate for and understand thoroughly. The At-large Senators have too broad of a constituency to be effective on the level that students deserve. This problem will be solved through the elimination of At-large Senate seats.

I would also like to credit all of the students who lobbied against budget cuts this week. We sent three buses of students up to Sacramento to participate in a successful rally; credit is due to the Black Student Union, California Faculty Association, Central American United Students Association, Hip Hop Think Tank, National Society of Black Engineers, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Pi Kappa Alpha, the University Student Union, and the University Corporation for helping sponsor this event, as well as to the university administration for its support of this cause.

Our relationship with the University Corporation has been considerably strengthened this year, and I am pleased to announce progress toward our mutual goal of environmentally friendly practices: we have increased the number of bottle recycling locations to include all primary locations, and our program to facilitate the easy recycling of receipts at on-campus retailers is gaining considerable ground. We thank Rick Evans and the University Corporation for being our partners in making CSUN a leader in sustainability.