Ashley Stanton is currently serving her second term as senator-at-large for ASI. She will wait patiently with other candidates to find out if all of her campaigning to become the next ASI president will pay off.
Having grown up in a “not-so-good neighborhood,” according to Stanton, and being raised by a single-parent she has had to work hard for everything she has.
“My main focus as president would be to get things I say I want to do, done,” said Stanton regarding her goals as president. “I’m running because I feel there are a lot of things that haven’t been done on campus such as problems with textbooks and minority relations.”
Stanton said the biggest problems on campus are housing and recruitment of minority males on campus. Stanton shared her views on some ways to improve these two things.
“One way to help with student housing is to outsource to the local community or maybe rent out a hotel in Long Beach for students to live in,” Stanton said. “When we recruit high school students, it’s often just us giving them a tour of the campus and that’s it. We should try and reach out to them more and have more events for them to come to on campus.”
The 23-year-old criminal justice major grew up in a tough neighborhood in Oakland and moved to Long Beach in 2002 after graduating from high school. She soon began working with the ASI Senate and eventually became a senator.
“I found the experience to be really positive,” Stanton said. “I feel that there is a huge need for student advocacy on campus. Students always talk about issues but they never go to where they need to be.”
Stanton said she feels that the biggest problem with ASI is that there is not enough communication to the students to let them know about the program.
“We aren’t doing our job as a whole because there are many vacancies in positions right now,” Stanton said. “I feel that this is the lowest number of people that has been on the council since I have been here.”
Regardless of the outcome of the elections, Stanton plans on advocating change on campus and helping the students to reach their expectations.
“I’m not gonna take no for an answer,” Stanton said. “I’m gonna find another way to help students if I’m not elected.”
