Vice President Candidate: Nayiri Baghdassarian

Name: Nayiri Baghdassarian
Running for: Vice President
Major: Political Science
Year: Junior
GPA: 3.3
Ticket: Phillips/ Baghdassarian

Q: If elected, what do you hope to achieve as vice president?
A: One is the Long Beach business pledge, which is agreements with local businesses in Long Beach that require them to hire X amount of Long Beach graduates at the end of each academic year. The next is a speaker series with each department. We have a parking ticket reform idea, and we also plan to create $2,000 worth of scholarships for study abroad and state study.

Q: How is your candidacy different from that of your competitor?
A: So, unlike my competitor, I have been vice president before. I’m a transfer student, and at Citrus College, I served two terms as vice president. I’ve also spent the last seven months working under the current vice president, Bolin, who has served as my mentor. I’m the current cabinet member of ASI [as] current secretary of system-wide affairs. My job is to … lobby for students.

Q: How will you advocate against budget cuts?
A: As far as budget cuts, what I’m doing right now actually is advocating for the government to add $95 million to the budget for the CSU, and my goal is to ensure that CSULB students have access to their education, have quality education and cheap education.

Q: Is there anything that you feel that the current position holder is doing that you would do differently or continue?
A: Vice President Bolin [and I] … both definitely have different leadership styles; however, I think I want to continue his success and add a little bit of my own style to it. His focus is more on staying green, and I want to have a broader focus, just to ensure college students have the resources they need to get a job after they graduate.

Q: In your own words, what is the purpose of your position and the important duties?
A: I want to push for the complete college experience, which means yes, have all the fun, have the music festivals, have all the great stuff that comes with college, but also ensure that they have what they need. A lot of students don’t know they have resources available to them. So I want those resources to be pushed onto them even more. I want to work with local senators, assembly members and other legislators and make sure the student voice isn’t forgotten outside the college community.

Q: What do you want students to know about you?
A: I want students to know that I care. I know all the other candidates are going to say that they care for the students, but my mission has always been the same regardless of where I go. That translates into what I want to do in my career … and I plan on delivering on everything I say I will.