As another spring semester nears its end, so does the tenure of many of our Associated Student Officers (ASO), in particular ASO president Megan McLean and other executive positions.
This means the campus is gearing up for an ASO election as the new candidates are campaigning
“It all relates back to the students and all ideas are for the betterment of society,” Walter Mendez, public relations candidate, said.
This election is shaping up to be competitive as not only are former ASO students running for their respective positions, but a few members from Inter-Club Council are running for ASO executive positions under a new party, the Students First Party, which is dedicated to supporting students’ needs.
The Students First Party consists of Mendez, ICC Vice President Ana Safazada, Phillip Stokes and Jonathon Fornes.
Former ASO and ICC member Hooman Nouri, who graduted from UCLA, is now running for president of ASO.
“We’re a real organization, and I think it is awesome that people like (Stokes), and (Mendez) share the same views. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night because I keep creating ideas to better EC,” Nouri said.
“We’re going with issues students care about,” Mendez added.
Nouri said the purpose of the party is to be about the students and that is the basic purpose of it because they feel the students need to be better served.
“The Students First Party is not about who is better suited for the job, it is about who brings more to the table,” Nouri said. “It’s a great campaign party as a whole, and it is a representation of a different side of the school so we can reach a common purpose.”
The Students First arty also hopes that if elected, they can unite ASO and ICC to work more together.
Besides the Students First Party many of ASO’s current cabinet are also running for executive positions.
Clarissa Jones, ASO vice president nominee, wants to a be representative for students issues.
“I think it’s all about the students, and I want to attack the issues they care about,” Jones said.
Another topic that Jones addressed is an issue that has plagued ASO, which regards student awareness as she believes there are still many students who don’t know ASO exists and what they are and she wants to remedy that.
“A lot of students don’t know ASO exists, so I want to increase student awareness and events and be the student advocate,” Jones said.
Another current ASO member that is running in this semester’s election is director of academic affairs.
Joe Udeochu is running to hold that office next semester as he believes that there are so many more things he would like to accomplish for ASO and believes he still has a job to do.
“I feel good about the election. I am the current director of academic affairs and I feel my job is not done at this time and my job as a student representative is not done and ASO provides a good opportunity for that,” Udeochu said.
Udeochu will be running against current ICC vice president Ana Safazada, who if elected will not only be part of ASO but plans on being ICC president as well.
Her goal is to make ICC and ASO united while also being a representative of the students.
Safazada added that her tenure on ICC makes her a perfect candidate for director of academic affairs because of her experience with people and her desire to fix the problems of EC that she encountered being apart of ICC.
“Aside from my previous experience on ICC, I have had enough experience with the student body to feel and understand the issues around campus that we currently have and have had around campus,” Safazada said.
Safazada added that she wants to be part of ASO to truly interact with students on a personal level and get their opinions and concerns.
Potential ASO candidates will be conducting a rally on Tuesday outside of the Activities Center.
From May 11-14 students will be able to vote for their ASO candidate on the Library Lawn from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the Activities Center from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Results will be posted on Monday, May 18.
