After one term as ASI president, Shefali Mistry is running for re-election. This time, she’s looking to do more than people might expect.
During her term as president, Mistry promised many changes to student government. She promised to help communicate the effectiveness of online textbooks to help students save money. She also promised to work out a way for the degree progress reports to be easier to read and more accessible for students. In her opinion, she succeeded.
Mistry said she wants to make ASI more accessible to students through communication and campus events. Due to a rise in auto thefts, she wants to make campus safety a priority. She also plans on making a dead week for students.
“A dead week is basically a week during the end of the semester where students aren’t assigned any new assignments and there are no campus events,” Mistry said. “This way, students can prepare for finals week without any distractions and can relax.”
Mistry, 24, who grew up in the city of Corona, started her political career at Riverside Community College, worked her way up from a volunteer, to campus council person, to president of the student government. She then transferred to Cal State Long Beach in the fall of 2003 and took time off from student government work to focus on her major and love – art.
As an art major, she found that her future, strangely enough, led right back to the Senate. Soon enough she applied to run for Senate and was elected, which she said was a pleasant surprise to her.
Coming from a very “cultured background,” she has managed to incorporate all aspects of diversity at CSULB into her life by becoming president and being involved in campus life. The balance between doing things for the students and doing things because of personal views can be difficult, Mistry said.
“In ASI, you tend to have a skewed view of things,” Mistry said. “It’s tough to balance the two. You just have to make sure that students are the priority.”
Regardless of whether Mistry is elected to a second term, she plans on continuing to work towards helping students and the school to obtain the best possible state.
“I’ll still be around in student government if I’m not re-elected,” Mistry said. “If you really want to serve the students, you’ll do it regardless of your position.”
