The Associated Students Inc. Senate unanimously passed a resolution last Wednesday to raise the cumulative GPA requirement for ASI elected officials from 2.0 to 2.5.
The resolution, which was authored by Vice President Jonathon Bolin and co-sponsored by a Senator for the College of Liberal Arts James Dinwiddie, raises the GPA requirement for all officers in ASI, including senators, executives and members of the judiciary. It passed on its third and final reading.
“We want student leaders to be model students, and if you have a 2.0, barely skating by, it’s not the best message to send to the student body,” Bolin said. “We want to raise the bar a little bit, and also for accountability.”
Bolin said he would have liked to see the GPA requirement bumped up to 3.0 but that the 2.5 GPA requirement provides more fairness as well as a “safety net” to the other ASI officers.
“The first goal is to graduate,” Bolin said. “If you have a 2.5 and slip below, we want there to be a safety net so that you can focus on your studies for a semester without dropping below a 2.0 and being put on academic probation.”
The resolution was introduced on its first reading in June, and it was passed on its third and final reading last Wednesday after the senators debated its details during summer meetings.
Senator for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Rhea-Comfort Addo said that some senators initially questioned whether the resolution would discourage student participation in ASI and if the GPA requirements should be applied on a semester or cumulative basis.
Addo, on the other hand, said she didn’t hesitate to pass the resolution.
“I thought it had great reasoning — [I’m] not against it at all,” Addo said. “Some people worry that this will discourage people from joining ASI if someone’s like, ‘Oh well, my grades aren’t good enough to join ASI,’ and then that will discourage involvement with the student government, but that’s not the case at all.”
Dinwiddie said that he thinks the increased GPA requirement is a step forward for ASI.
“We are student leaders, and we must take great pride in our academic excellence,” Dinwiddie said. “The GPA increase gives ASI officers greater credibility.”
Student governments at other Cal State University campuses also follow this GPA requirement, albeit with some differences, according to their respective websites.
For instance, Cal State Fullerton’s ASI officers are required to maintain a cumulative 2.5 GPA as well as a 2.0 semester GPA. Cal State Los Angeles’ GPA requirement for ASI membership is at 2.0, only requiring that the student is in good academic standing.
Computer science major Preeti Dagas said she thinks the new GPA requirement could block some students from joining student government.
“I actually think it’s not such a good idea because then only scholars will get into the ASI and not average students,” Dagas said.
Journalism major Tanner Hewitt, however, said the raised requirement should benefit ASI officers.
“It’s definitely a good thing to raise it,” Hewitt said. “Students should want to be studious and dedicated to represent the students on campus.”
