Former ASI presidential candidate says vote for John and Jon

Let’s face the facts. California Higher Education is at a crossroads and in the darkest predicament it has ever faced.

With the conversations centering on tuition hikes, online education, and overcompensation, CSULB needs ASI leaders who will not hesitate to stand up for the students and ask the difficult questions.

CSULB is the flagship campus of the CSU system and we need to have students who will put us at the forefront of these conversations, both locally and statewide.

As the situation worsened since 2008, our efforts on campus have only slightly progressed, and that’s being generous.

The strategies in ASI have been the same and indicatively repetitive over the past administrations, plaguing the student body with nothing but false generosity and no real commitments to improving the quality of education for the students of CSULB.

When there has been action, it has been reluctant. This is why we need new leadership like John Haberstroh and Jon Bolin.

John and Jon are the only candidates in this run-off who have tangible ideas about what ASI should be doing and how it needs to operate in the best interest of serving students.

Their fresh perspective is the missing component that ASI needs to become the truly representative organization of the student body.

With their head-turning signs, no one can doubt their creativity and out-of-the-box thinking that will benefit all aspects of ASI.

Based off of many personal conversations with them, I know their goals are in the right place and that they would serve the students and the institution as altruistic leaders who do the things that need to be said and done to preserve quality education.

When asking about whom my running mate Jorge Soriano and I would support in this run-off, many students spoke highly of Stephen Thomas and Diana Phan because of the positions they held.

The problem with relying on this is that we are in a new playing field where traditional conventions are out the window.

No matter what experience you have had, no one is best prepared to handle the incoming raid on higher education.

What we can’t afford is more of the same tactics in ASI. What will progress us are new ideas, creative approaches to our situations, and a new era of open communication and trust for ASI. These are the qualities that led John and Jon to garner the highest number of votes in the election, and that is why Jorge and I are proud to vote for John and Jon.

James Suazo is a senior English education major.