Share: mail

After election fraud hit the Associated Students (AS) back in June, resulting in decertification of the results, AS have been attempting to regain their footing by filling open positions on their Executive Board.

There is still some work to do.

Two remaining AS vice presidents (VP) are expected to be named in October, according to Dionne Shelton, new president of AS. Posters seeking applicants for six vacant VP positions were used and put up across campus, although four positions had already been filled over the summer. 

“We just didn’t find it sustainable to reprint the posters,” Shelton said during a five minute phone interview. “It only took about a month to get back up and running at full speed, to be honest.”

However, the publicly posted AS meeting agendas, as of Aug. 2 (the most recent published meeting), show six vacancies on the board. They include one Executive Vice President, and five VP for: Academic Affairs, Business Affairs, Public Relations, External Affairs, and Sustainability.

At the Sept. 25 meeting, the two VP positions remaining vacant are for Academic Affairs and Sustainability. The role of Secretary also remains unfilled.

Incoming VP of Public Relations, Jessica Wu, is currently working to get new member information on the AS website. Currently, the website is not up to date to reflect the new positions and contact information for the new board members.

Although the AS did not give an exact date when the website would be updated, the correction would be completed sometime soon.

“[We are] in the process of updating,” said Alex Sarkissian, new student trustee.

Sarkissian was appointed on July 17 by the Board of Trustees.

In addition to Sarkissian and Shelton, the 2019—2020 board so far, according to the latest public documents, has vice president positions filled by Ryan Tan (student services), Mackenzie Rivera (campus activity), Connie Rivera (community diversity), and David Ramirez (chief justice). 

AS representation on various college committees has mostly resumed. At least one slot still needs to be filled.

The Open Educational Resources (OER) Committee’s Sept. 11 meeting, first of the semester, reported that a designated AS representative to attend and participate was still to be determined (TBD). One of the committee’s primary responsibilities is coordinating and promoting the use of zero textbook-cost courses in a variety of disciplines. 

The challenge from not having an designated representative or alternate goes beyond missing a meeting.

“It kind of breaks communication out,” said Walter Butler, OER committee chair. “If we don’t have a student voice there, then that information is not getting reported back to the Associated Students as easily.” 

The AS board’s meetings this semester are every Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m.

“We’re doing well now,” Sarkissian said. “Over the summer, it was a little hectic.”

Timothy Wu
Latest posts by Timothy Wu (see all)
Follow: rssyoutubeinstagrammail

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.