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Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Volume 162 No. 32 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
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KAYA HENKES-POWER | SPARTAN DAILY
Business administration and management sophomore Samuel Brown, who is running for Director for Student Resource Affairs, responds to questions at the debate.
Candidates engage in debate By Kaya Henkes-Power STAFF WRITER
Debates between candidates for the Associated Student Board of Directors happened in the Student Union meeting room 2B on Monday evening. Associated Students is a SJSU student affairs organization that advocates for students, according to
the Associated Student webpage. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit auxiliary organization with a $9 million budget that operates nine departments through its Board of Directors, according to its SJSU website. Chief Elections Officer L e onardo Plazola, moderated the debate alongside SJSU’s student publications editors. “We have 13 positions inside the Board of Directors,” Plazola said. “In this debate, we’re going to be having 12 debates for each respective position.”
Kicking off the debate were three out of the five presidential candidates, they were given three questions each and each had a minute to respond. Plazola asked the candidates how they will bridge the gap between the student population and the Associated Student Board of Directors. Electrical and electronics junior Umama Oishi said she can relate to feeling unseen on campus and wants to give every student a chance
Safety and gun control on Tower Lawn
NAVIN KRISHNAN | SPARTAN DAILY
SJSU psychology professor talked about safety and gun control to an audience on Tower Hall Lawn. Students and some faculty members gathered on the lawn near the Olympic Black Power statue Monday morning to protest gun violence. Elena Klaw, a SJSU psychology professor, said Monday was the third annual day of action and was sponsored by the Center for Community Learning and Leadership and the SJSU chapter of Students Demand Action. “This year’s theme is to restrict guns, not books. We are all about preventing gun violence and harm to members of our community,” Klaw said. A series of speakers showed up at the event, such as Assistant District Attorney Rolanda Pierre-Dixon, who recently retired from Santa Clara County to talk about why gun laws need to be restricted. Klaw said Students Demand Action stands for a right to learn different perspectives, and the right to see ourselves represented in what we read and what we learn. SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson attended the event among several other key speakers that addressed members of the audience including students, community members from San José and others.
to feel the power of their individuality. “How I’m going to bridge the gap is creating a platform for students so they can voice what kinds of needs they have,” Oishi said. Ariana Lacson, a bioengineering junior and currently the vice president for Associated Students, said she hopes to expand the marketing of the MyVoice SJSU Survey Program. “It’s a way for students to directly communicate to their faculty and staff through AS,” Lacson said. Lacson said she wants to expand social media presence, host monthly town hall meetings with recognized student organization leaders, write monthly newsletters and expand on a master resource document. Political science junior Graciela Marcial said she wants to increase the marketing of Associated Students. “I feel like a lot of things that could be marketed are not marketed,” Marcial said, “A lot of people do not know what the AS board is.” She said she wants to utilize media such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to market the Associated Students Board along with meeting organizations during meeting times.
wants to conduct oneon-ones when holding members accountable for conduct issues.
We have 13 positions inside the Board of Directors . . . In this debate, we’re going to be having 12 debates for each respective position. Leonardo Plazola Chief elections officer at Associated Students
“I would try to talk to them head on to explain the issue that they came up with and try to find some way in order to get back on track,” Nwokolo said. He said he would go through a conduct process and make sure the board of directors and the entire board knows in order to create transparency. Kinesiology sophomore Sahib Siya Johal said she wants to facilitate communication between individuals. “To hold everyone accountable, including myself,” Johal said. “I think listening actively (and) understanding each and every conflict or question brought up.” She said that there are Following t h e multiple routes you could presidential candidates, take to find solutions, so the two vice presidential finding common ground candidates debated for 10 and exploring solutions. minutes, having a minute each to answer three questions. Plazola asked the After the vice candidates how they would presidential debate was hold the board of directors the Associated Student's accountable for their job controller debate, where performance, conduct and one of the two candidates collaboration. spoke. Political science junior A controller is a Chima Nwokolo said he position that oversees the
accounting operations of an organization, according to a webpage on Investopedia. Similar to the vice presidential candidates, each controller candidate was given three questions with a minute to answer. Computer engineering junior Sidhant Sadawarti said he wanted to bridge the gap between the Associated Student Board and students through proper communication. “I would make sure that all things are promoted properly so that all the students get to know what's happening in director meets and in the committees.” Sadawarti said. He said he could coordinate Associated Student goals to make student life and experiences for students better. Journalism senior Karson Wells, an executive producer for Update News, helped moderate the debates. “How will you use things like scholarships to support the student body?” Wells asked. Sadawarti said that one of his goals is to increase the scholarship budget and make two or three different categories. “I would also want to make two or three more different categories in which scholarships (are) provided,” Sadwarti said. He was also questioned about how he would help to ensure even distributions among student organizations. “I would want to make sure that every club gets the money,” Sadawarti said. “That it is not just restricted to the STEM majors.”
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