Candidates for Associated Students president and vice president running under the slate “Matadors First” for the 2019-2020 school year are centering their campaign around the idea that CSUN students should come first and foremost. Navid Hariri is running for president, with Sam Sabzanov running for vice president.

“’Matadors First’ selflessly and effectively stands for representing all CSUN Matadors and putting their needs first,” Hariri said. “Students are the foundation of CSUN and their voices must have the utmost priority … (O)ur goal is to embolden CSUN and the students to become first in every aspect.”

According to Hariri, his four years at CSUN have allowed him the chance to meet many students and familiarize himself with their needs and wants. He says CSUN has given a lot to him and that’s what led him to run for AS president.

“I want to improve CSUN and do as much as I can for others that will come after us, like the ones before have done for me. As AS president, I would have the biggest opportunity to give back and improve CSUN,” said Hariri.

Sabzanov’s decision to run as vice president was due to Hariri’s sincerity in wanting to give back to CSUN by working on improving the CSUN community through social and educational events.

“I wanted to run as AS vice president because I feel like although CSUN has done a lot for its students there is still more to do,” said Sabzanov.

The two candidates met each other in freshman year and quickly became great friends. They say their teamwork has been effective because of their ability to see problems from different sides of the spectrum.

“We are like Yin and Yang. We work toward the same goal but see the problem from differing perspectives,” said Hariri. “This deep analysis helps us to evaluate every option possible and make the best decision.”

One of the things Sabzanov would like to see a change in is a rise in CSUN’s school spirit. There are a lot of events that are focused toward specific majors but there haven’t been events besides Big Show that have brought students together at CSUN, according to Sabzanov.

“I want to see a change in school pep because I feel like it would unite the school a bit more,” said Sabzanov. “If elected I will work toward making the students experience at CSUN more fun and relaxed.”

As for Hariri, he says that students need to make CSUN a community that feels like home and all Matadors are a second family. Together, they want a community and college filled with academics where their voices are carefully listened to and selflessly and effectively represented.

“The biggest problem at CSUN is that it has only become a school and nothing more and the truth is CSUN is much more than that,” said Hariri. “CSUN needs to be transformed from only being a school to becoming a community of driven students interacting and collaborating with each other. To see this change, we must organize events and activities on campus that pull students in and shows them the massive opportunities CSUN provides them.”