To most people, the acronym ASB means Associated Student Body, but EC has no such body; it has an Associated Student Organization for its student government. The acronym is left to mean both Auxiliary Services Board and Auxiliary Services Benefits, the latter of which is the discount sticker sold by the board for $10 to raise funds for programs, which include arts, sports and the Union newspaper.
Due to a lack of budgetary planning and a decline in sales of the benefits sticker, which provides its purchaser with discounts on anything from theme park tickets to custom framing orders, the Auxiliary Services Board is cutting funding drastically for the programs that it supports.
This means, among other things, no more paid lunches for athletes at away games, limited advertisements for arts events and a smaller newspaper.
All of these cuts are the result of inherent flaws in how the ASB system works.
Initially, EC began what is now known as ASB in 1975 to keep students from having to pay student body fees.
The card, which was sold for $5 and was known as the Student Identification and Services Card, was another confusing acronym since SIDS typically means Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Because this card was also EC’s ID card, students were forced to purchase it, so funding of $5 per student was assured. For legal reasons, EC can no longer require the purchase of student ID cards, so there is no assurance of funding from the card, which is why the Auxiliary Services Board came up with the sticker.
The main problem with the sticker, though, is that most students do not even know what it is, and because of poor advertising for the discounts, the incentives to purchase the colored piece of adhesive does not work, and so sales of the sticker have dropped significantly.
Even if the average student knew that he could get $23 Magic Mountain tickets, $10 off admission to Disney’s California theme parks, 20 percent off food at the Jack in the Box on Redondo Beach Boulevard and 11 percent off most items at E.T. Surf in Hermosa Beach, many of these are given to any student with a valid ID, whether or not they have the sticker.
Better enforcement of discounts and more prominent advertising could save the ASB system, but it may be time for new, simpler solutions like those championed by Student Trustee Philip Gomez, in which every student would pay a fee less than $10 which would support Auxiliary Services.
