By snoadmin
The Daily Forty-Niner will be featuring profiles of ASI presidential candidates Christopher Chavez (Monday), Avis Atkins (Tuesday), Ricardo Linarez (Wednesday) and Raul Preciado (Thursday). The Daily Forty-Niner will also publish an ASI election guide on Monday, April 13.
Christopher Chavez
As the current Associated Students Inc. vice president at Cal State Long Beach, Christopher Chavez said he has the experience to serve as the 2009-2010 ASI president.
Chavez, who has been involved in politics since his freshman year at CSULB, said he believes he has the vision and experience to serve the student body as ASI president because of his service on the Academic Senate, as a member of the Political Science Student Association and as a disc jockey for the K-Beach radio station on campus.
“There’s a difference between complaining about something and doing something about it,” Chavez said.
Chavez said he has already been a part of change at CSULB and said he would continue these actions if elected.
Last December, Chavez helped organize rallies against the California State University budget cuts.
“I helped organize those rallies in which we were able to bring three constituencies — which included administration, faculty and the students — to really speak up on these budget cuts,” Chavez said.
Chavez said his involvement in the policy revisions of the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) and his desire to implement “more student-friendly policies,” at the university “will heavily invest in making sure that whatever the Academic Senate produces — that it’s going to make sure [it is] taking into account our students.”
The campus harbors many non-native English speaking students and Chavez hopes to accommodate those students with certain needs while also making sure the school has a rigorous GWAR policy.
Chavez said he also wants the campus to get over the idea that CSULB is a commuter campus.
“There’s hundreds of student organization events occurring on campus, and we really need to show the students what these events are, where they can go to partake in them, and also how to get involved on campus,” Chavez said.
Chavez said he wants to emphasize the roles of student representatives and campus organizations in order to increase the amount of information disseminated to all students.
“My personal belief is that there’s no substitute for human interaction,” Chavez said. “I’ve visited a number of student groups to find out what their opinions are and letting them know when the issues that are affecting them are coming up.”
Chavez has also built a rapport with campus administration officials through ASI.
“I’ve developed a lot of relationships, a lot of working relationships with the administration, with the faculty and the staff at the Chancellor’s office and in the end, I know how to pursue my vision,” Chavez said.
Current/Previous ASI Positions: Vice President of ASI
Major/Minor: Political Science/Economics
Year: Senior
High School Government Positions: None
GPA: 3.5
On-/Off-Campus Organizations: La Raza Student Association (officer for 2 years), KBeach
ASI elections will take place from April 13 to April 15.
Other ASI presidential candidate profiles: