It’s election season again at CSUN, which means all 24 Associated Students representative positions are up for grabs.
Aspiring Associated Students officers are able to file for candidacy electronically through the A.S. website until March 9 at 5:00 pm, with voting taking place from April 1 to April 2.
Becoming a member of A.S. requires hopeful students to meet and uphold a number of requirements, including being in good academic standing at the time of election filing.
A good academic standing must also be maintained during an officer’s entire occupancy in A.S.
Additionally, candidates must have earned – in the semester prior to the election – either a 2.5 GPA if they are undergraduate students or a 3.0 GPA if they are enrolled in a graduate program. Similarly, at least a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or 3.0 is required of undergraduates and graduates, respectively.
Twenty-two senate positions and the offices of president and vice president are all available for those interested in getting involved in the upcoming election.
To run for the Office of the President, a candidate must have completed at least 60 units of college work, including at least six units from CSUN.
The responsibilities of the Office of the President include introducing legislation, preparing the Associated Students budget and making informed cabinet appointments with consent of the Senate.
Candidacy for the Office of the Vice President requires completion of at least 45 units of college work before taking office.
The Vice President of Associated Students presides over the Senate in the event of the president’s absence while also possessing other powers deemed necessary by the Senate.
The senate is comprised of 22 senators representing each of CSUN’s eight colleges as well as upper division, lower division and graduate students.
The powers of the senate include deciding policies for the organization as a whole, confirming appointments made by the president and making appropriations from the Associated Students budget.
Students seeking a senatorial office must be members of the constituency they are representing. For example, a graduate division senator must be a graduate student.
Those seeking election as an academic college senator must have finished at least 24 college units prior to assuming office as well as 9 units within the college they plan on representing.
Once candidates have registered online, they can immediately begin campaigning.
Candidates are allowed to publicize their campaign with literature by utilizing numerous designated areas as long as they are approved for posting by the Matador Involvement Center.
After the closing of elections filing, two mandatory candidates’ meetings will be held, which can be attended by candidates or their campaign managers.
The first of these meetings will take place March 11 at 5 p.m. in the Panorama City Room. The second will be held in the Flintridge Room on March 12th at 5 p.m.
An hour-long photo session will take place on March 16 at 12 p.m, providing photographs of each candidate for voting ballots. This shoot will occur in the Thousand Oaks Room.
Candidate biographies are then due on March 16 by 1 p.m. in the Associated Students Student Leadership Office.
On March 26, a Meet the Candidates Day and debates between presidential and vice presidential candidates will be held, which requires mandatory attendance by all candidates. These events will be hosted on Bayramian Lawn from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
CSUN students can head to the polls and start voting for their desired candidates on April 1 at 8 a.m.
Voting is being made available to students both online and through poll stations on campus.
Voting closes on April 2 at 6 p.m. with election results revealed and posted from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Students interested in serving on the Associated Students senate, or those who simply wish to get involved in the voting process, further information about the upcoming election can be found on the A.S. website, including the elections filing application: http://www.csun.edu/as/elections.
