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Editors Note: This story had been changed for clarity since it’s original publication.

Associated Students Board members have since fall been posting new blogs to the AS website with information for students, written by students with similar interests and concerns.

The main AS objective for the blogs is transparency, in which there’s openness, communication, and accountability on issues of concern to students, bloggers said. 

AS Vice President of Public Relations Mon-Shane Chou explained how a connection is forged between the AS and the student body.

“When everyone is involved, there is a sense of shared governance,” said Chou. She sees the blogs as a perfect opportunity for this.

Chou explained how student government implies a distance between student officials and other students. AS is an association where everyone participates in shared governance, Chou said.

 “There has to be a student interest,” she said. Without student initiative, there’s no participation. “There is only so much we [in the] AS can do.”

According to Chou, student feedback to the blogs is largely positive. The students want the information. “It’s pretty intuitive,” said Chou. “Usually there’s always something to blog about.”

Although students may get college news from other sources, some value the blogs.  “I keep up with the issues by reading the newspaper, but I’m also interested in looking into the blogs,” said Yousef Tobgy, administration of justice.. He realizes the importance of being informed, and is open to new sources of information.

“The more of us, the bigger the voice,” said Natasha Nicholson, sociology. Nicholson is aware of AS news but points out there are still students who are not informed. “Then again, there’s only so much AS can do when getting the news out there,” said Nicholson.

“They’re written by students just like you,” said Chou, adding that the posts go up earlier than most news sources, since AS is not confined to 9a.m to 5p.m days.

The blogs were made possible with the new AS website, as.pasadena.edu, which was set up in the fall semester.

Chou and AS Chief Justice Simon Fraser are the top two bloggers on the site.  “The website along with the blogs is about 70 percent of what I do, Chou said. “It’s part of the job and the responsibility of public relations”.

“This is more than a one person job, where having ranges of people who blog can create equilibrium.”  

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