California State University, Stanislaus students elected new Associated Student Inc. (ASI) leaders to office for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Ballots opened April 28 and closed April 29, re-electing ASI President Mariam Salameh and Vice President Marvin Hooker.
Mariam and Marvin, M&M, plan to “finish what [they] started” for the upcoming academic year by addressing some of the students’ biggest concerns such as: reducing the parking fee, increasing the number of class sections and increasing library services.
“The first thing I think we will be addressing is the parking permit rate issue on this campus,”ASI Vice President, Hooker said.
“The current parking agreement will conclude in July 2014 with an increase in rates to $200 for Fall ‘14 and Spring ‘15, so we will be focusing our summer on starting negotiations in that discussion and working to do what is in the best interest of students.”
Out of a group of 8,078 students, 10.93 percent casted votes for ASI President.
“The number of students who vote is always lower than I would like to see it,” Hooker said. “How do we get this number to increase is the question we need to ask.”
Amber Deming, former candidate for ASI President, remarked on the election outcome.
“This is going to be an interesting year,” Deming (junior, Economics) said. “I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish and that was to get a large amount of students prepared for a big change in ASI, hopefully that will set up a better candidate for the next election cycle.”
In addition to Salameh and Hooker, students elected the following positions: Nicole Larson, Director of Athletics; Caleb Wittstruck, Director of Environment; Jessica Sanchez, Director of Diversity; Edgar Garcia, Director at Large; Rogelio Vazquez, Director of Residential Life; Joshua Marroquin, Director of Student Organizations; Julianna Avalos-Gracia, Director for the College of Science and Yvonne Serrano, Director for the College of Business.