They did it again. Associated Students Inc. President John Haberstroh and Vice President Jonathon Bolin are returning to their positions for the 2013-14 academic year. They will be joined by recently elected Agatha Gucyski, who will serve as the treasurer.
The campaign season for the new ASI executives was long and certainly drama-filled. There were heated arguments at the debates, outrageous campaign tactics, trash-talking, sign destroying and puppies, but at the end of the day, the Cal State Long Beach student body voiced its preferences. Once again, students spoke in record numbers.
The general election saw a wave of 6,488 students cast their votes, or 19.5 percent of the student body. The run-off election saw 5,070 votes, or 15.2 percent of the student body. It’s impressive to see students break voting records in back-to-back years. It shows that more and more students want to make their voices heard.
But just because ASI elections are over doesn’t mean that the hard work is over. There are a lot of things the new ASI administration and new ASI Senate must do to fulfill their campaign promises.
First off, the Daily 49er editorial board would like to see the returning administration work well with the newcomers. There were subtle riffs amongst ASI leadership this past year, but it was hard not to see how the fierce animosity between candidates.
Next year, both Haberstroh and Bolin will be working closely with Gucyski, who ran on the same ticket as losing presidential candidate Jorge Soriano and vice presidential candidate Deshe Gully. We hope that even though she supported the John’s competition during the campaign, it will not deter the executives from working together as a team. Gucyski comes from a different side of ASI than Haberstroh and Bolin. She has a lot of good ideas – they should listen.
Haberstroh and Bolin should also focus on preparing ASI for the future. Both have become the faces of ASI through their clever marketing, along with their town hall meetings. But we no longer think it should be the “John & Jon” show. It should be the ASI show. All the executives should attend and host the town hall meetings. ASI cannot rely on Haberstroh and Bolin to maintain the bulk of the communication between ASI and the student body. At the same time, Haberstroh and Bolin need to relinquish their “John and Jon” persona and use their marketing techniques to promote the organization instead.
Finally, we hope that more of ASI feels comfortable talking to the Daily 49er. Throughout the past year, our reporters have had trouble communicating with some of the senators and ASI leaders about certain issues – it doesn’t have to be this way. This is the only publication on campus that reports on the daily goings-on of the multi-million dollar organization. Unless students attend the weekly Senate meetings, they usually find about ASI’s actions through this newspaper.
So for what it’s worth, congratulations to the winners of the ASI election. We look forward to seeing what the next year brings, including more farmers markets, maybe.