Associated Students voted to extend the deadline for people who want to run for a seat from today to March 14, at 11:00 p.m. in an attempt to encourage more civic engagement on campus.
President Amanda Flavin, a graduating senior, expressed her concern for students to have more choices in candidates. She said as of Friday, only one ticket had been filed for the vice president and presidential seats.
“I want to make sure students have options and that no seat goes uncontested,” Flavin said.
A.S. is promoting the election through Facebook, bulletin boards around campus, emails and word of mouth.
“Often, senators don’t do their jobs to reach out to constituents and this is a problem,” Flavin said.
A.S. will have a table in front of the Oviatt Library on Wednesday and Thursday next week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. where every senator is mandated to contribute two hours of service to encourage people to run.
Students interested in running can visit the A.S. website and fill out the appropriate forms. All candidates must have a minimum 2.5 GPA.
There are seats for each college available to students interested in running: two lower division, two upper division and two graduate seats. Along with the vice president and president’s seats.
MIND Screens
A.S. voted to allocate $38,965 to A.S. Marketing for the installation of five new Matador Information Network Display screens from the Capital Improvement account.
In a special presentation to the senate, Manager of Support Services for Associated Students, Ken Premo, said A.S. Marketing plans to install three MIND screens around the Student Union area of campus: one by the student government office, one by the ticket office and one in the children’s center; the remaining two screens’ placement will be determined by a committee.
According to Premo, the USU opted to buy their own screens– one in the main building and another in the Satellite Student Union.
The screens provide free advertising to students, faculty, staff or any club or organization, Premo said. The goal of the MIND screens is to promote more campus engagement and to bring cohesion to the student body in spreading awareness of CSUN operations.
“The purpose of the screen is to promote spirit on campus,” he added.
Senator Hookfin shared she had issues contacting someone in A.S. Marketing when she tried to get content published on the MIND screens in the past.
Senator Ryder asked Premo if the location of the MIND screens could be revisited to areas with “higher traffic” to colleges that currently don’t have MIND screens away from the other “auxiliary locations” proposed.
“I’m really happy you’ve noticed the absence,” Premo said, assuring Ryder that they would explore that request.
MIND screens take up to 60 days from delivery to installation. The approved screens can be expected around campus by graduation.
Chick-Fil-A
Matadors for Equality Board Member John Saringo-Rodriguez spoke to the senate during open forum urging to ban Chick-Fil-A services at CSUN events and activities in support of the LGBTQ community at CSUN.
Saringo-Rodriguez distributed a petition to A.S. created on Change.org pressuring CSUN to stop serving Chick-Fil-A due to their history of supporting organizations who’ve been accused of being homophobic. According to a report by EqualityMatters.org cited in his speech, Chick-Fil-A has donated a “total of 1.7 million dollars in 2009 to organizations like Marriage and Family fund, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Family Research Council, Exodus International and Focus on the Family.”
