The choices for the Associated Students, Inc. Executive Board of Directors, made by the elected 2012-2013 ASI president and vice president, were reviewed Tuesday at their weekly meeting in the TSU Legislative Chambers. Other matters were also brought up at the meeting.
The students selected for the positions of vice president of finance (Jane Han), chief governmental officer (Kayla Coriaty), chief administrative officer (Samuel Morales) and chief communications officer (Josue Rodriguez) presented themselves, their ideas, qualifications and answered questions at the meeting. Members of the Board voted in the members after each one spoke.
Brenda Lopez, 21, a liberal studies major who attended the meeting, expressed her concern with the selection process for the positions of Executive Board of Directors. Lopez applied for the chief administrative officer position, which the Board of Directors voted in president and vice president appointee Morales.
“Today I attended the Board of Director’s meeting in order to address my concern in the selection process of next year’s ASI Executive Staff,” said Lopez. “A lot of the students that I spoke to after the Executive Staff was chosen, a lot of them were thinking that the decision was biased because they did choose every single one of their friends for every position.”
Alvin Reyes, 22, a nursing major and vice chair for the Board of Directors, said Tuesday’s meeting was “definitely different.” Reyes chaired the meeting, which is usually mediated by ASI Board Chair Aissa Canchola, who was absent because she was lobbying in Sacramento.
“I’m just really proud of how the Board of Directors handled the meeting,” said Reyes. “Just because it is tough decisions that we do have to make, and I really commend them for really taking the time to actually think and like, put deep thought into (the decision) they’re making.”
Reyes said he wants students to know that they do take into consideration the student’s opinions.
“I definitely appreciated all of the public comments,” Reyes said. “As the Board of Directors, we are here to listen to the students and try to make decisions on their behalf.”
A total of four people walked up to speak to the Board regarding their concerns about the process taken by the recently elected ASI President Dwayne Mason and Vice President Katie Ayala — a moment that Reyes said was “intense.”
“We don’t usually get that many individuals that come during public speakers,” Reyes said.
The Board’s role is to review the qualifications of the candidates selected by Mason and Ayala, and determine if they meet the criteria for the position, Reyes said.
“Each of them went up there and they held their ground,” said Mason. “They answered all the questions very well, and it really just reaffirms our confidence in them as student leaders.”
“The reality of it is that Katie (Ayala) and I are students as well,” Mason said. “We have hectic schedules, but we were consistent with our process. We planned to interview three people per position, and we held true to that.”
Mason said he and Ayala want to encourage students to “really continue to pursue involvement with ASI” or pursue involvement on campus.
Mason said the most important aspect he and Ayala took into consideration when reviewing the applications were the responses to the questions, while resumes were still important and looked over.
During the meeting, candidates for representative board positions for the College of the Arts, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and College of Health and Human Development, presented themselves to the board and answered questions.
All candidates were voted in and will serve on the board from June 1 to May 1, 2013.
Other topics touched upon during the meeting included an amendment into the budget, which added scholarships to certain ASI jobs, and a presentation of the fourth quarter 2011-2012 report by Christian Urcia, the chair for the Titan Student Center’s Governing Board.
The amendments to the budget would allow three positions to receive scholarships at the coordinator level to “ease the burden of financial need,” Reyes said.
The quarter report, presented by Urcia, pointed out that the Baja Fresh in the TSU will not open spring 2012 as promised, because of permits and time constraints.
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