Associated Students Inc. candidates stated their platforms and further explained why they are running for their positions at a press conference on Monday.
Each candidate gave their opinion on the top three issues that face students and how they plan on addressing these issues.
Some of their ideas ranged from changing the name of the school to emphasizing shared governance, and from helping students with financial aid to promoting more school spirit.
“The first thing I want to do is breakdown barriers of ASI,” said Nicholas Donn, who is running for president. “Students have a hard time grasping what ASI is.”
Elizabeth Gamboa, who is running for president, said she wants to change Cal State Long Beach’s image of a commuter college.
She plans to do this by promoting more school spirit by bringing back football and changing the university’s name to Long Beach State University.
Some candidates also expressed their opinions on budget cuts.
Priscilla Covarrubias, a candidate running for vice president, said that she believes all students should have a voice because she said her biggest concern is budget cuts.
John Haberstroh said that it will be hard to reverse budget cuts, but it is doable.
“We all don’t like budget cuts,” Haberstroh said.
“That’s not an easy fix because, honestly, that is something that is out of our hands. That is a state of California issue,” he continued.
However, Stephen Thomas, acandidate running for president, disagreed with Haberstroh.
Thomas gave examples of how students have voiced their opinions in Sacramento and legislative offices.
“It’s not out of our hands, it’s in every single one of our hands across the campus,” Thomas said. “And how are we going to do it? By uniting students, by educating each other, by talking about it.”
James Suazo, a candidate running for president, said he believes that every candidate is qualified for ASI regardless of how much experience in ASI they have.
Jonathon Bolin, a candidate running for vice president, said he does not think there are any bad candidates running, but he wants to represent the students who have never been in ASI.
“ASI is like a pizza, it’s really hard to make a bad pizza, but it’s also hard to make a good pizza,” Bolin said.
“Pretty much you have bread cheese and tomato sauce, it’s an easy, simple recipe. You really have to screw up to make a bad ASI. You really have to do well to make a good ASI,” he continued.
Jorge Soriano, a candidate running for vice president, said he wants to extend ASI information to graduate students, commuter students and the average student.
“Right now, [ASI has] a very good relationship with the student organizations on campus, they benefit greatly from all the services that ASI offers,” Soriano said. “But what about the average student?”
Diana Phan, a candidate running for vice president, said that administrators and ASI should work together to promote their students’ success.
Jose Espeleta, a candidate running for treasurer, said that he wants to be able to do more with less.
“As a CFO, a chief financial officer, you have to take care of what you spend and where you spend it on,” Espeleta said. “So I’ve been looking at how can we save and how can we do more with what we have.”
Jordan Cattuzzo, a candidate running for treasurer, said her main focus was on helping students through funding.
“I know what it’s like to be on financial aid, and I know how important it is to students,” Cattuzzo said.
“I want to be able to be there for the students to help them, support them and know that I’m there to help them through college,” she continued.