AS Senate recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day; reveals low engagement with clubs and organizations
Associated Students held their weekly virtual meeting on Oct. 12, 2020.
October 13, 2020
During the Associated Students meeting on Monday, senators and faculty members discussed clubs and organizations engagement, acknowledged the history of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and celebrated the Lakers championship win.
Nikiya McWilliams, a CSUN Clubs and Organizations coordinator, said there has been low club engagement due to the pandemic. She said they have restructured the CSUN Clubs and Organizations program to provide more workshops and resources to make the virtual experience easier.
“We feel like there’s a tiny fracture in our communication. I’m going to call it tiny because I think it’s easily fixable,” McWilliams said.
McWilliams said many students don’t know what CSUN’s Clubs and Organization program provides and hopes to keep students engaged by raising awareness.
“To resolve these challenges we are going to talk about a few things: student engagement, the learning aspect, training aspect and the experience aspect,” McWilliams said. “We want our students to know that although it will be virtual, we still want them to feel like they are still experiencing the college community. We believe our clubs and organizations provide that.”
AS President Rose Merida acknowledged the Los Angeles Lakers and ended her weekly president’s report with a Kobe Bryant quote.
“Lakers made L.A. proud, so I hope we go into this week with some ‘Mamba Mentality,’” Merida said. “‘Those times that you don’t feel like working, you’re too tired and you don’t want to push yourself, do it anyways — that is the actual dream.’”
Vicki Allen, interim co-director of the Office of Student Involvement and Development, acknowledged the meeting date fell on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and noted the “Whose Land Are You On?” workshop hosted by the American Indian Studies Association.
“This is a day in which our American Indian Studies Association always offers an educational program to talk a lot about the land and history, especially here in California, where CSUN is located,” Allen said.
The next AS meeting will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday Oct. 19.
