Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Arynn Duncan Christina Romero, right, speaks with student Brad Pointer, left, after the ASI State of the Students Address. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Arynn Duncan ASI President Christina Romero discusses ASI's successes this semester, such as activities and events it has held, at the State of the Students Address on Monday. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Arynn Duncan Laura Gonzalez, left, Patricia Mat, middle, and Maribel Rosendo, middle right, hand out free pizza after the ASI State of the Students Address. [Click to enlarge]

Associated Students Inc. held its spring address in the Library Quad this year in hopes of drawing more students to the event. As a result, the student body government's president said the turnout was more favorable than that of recent years.

Christina Romero, ASI president, said more students stopped to listen during the State of the Students Address than they have in the past. Last year, only about three students showed up, Romero said. She said that holding the event in the Library Quad helped with making the student body government more visible and transparent to the campus community.

About 20 students, staff and faculty were present at the start of the address. As word of free pizza got out on campus, more people were drawn to the event.

While ASI gave away Round Table Pizza and distributed leaflets about organizations that are empowered by its student government in hopes of drawings students' attention, KSSU was on hand to spin some tunes.

Romero said one of ASI's primary goals is to get students to become more involved on campus. Despite a massive advertising campaign to drive students to the polls for the recent elections, voter turnout was not any higher this year than last, Romero said.

"People who know about ASI and what we are doing care about it," Romero said. "People who don't know don't care and those are the people we are trying to reach."

Nicole Hoffelt, freshman communication studies major, said she could not come to the address because she was in class. However, she said she did not vote, either.

As a new student on campus, Hoffelt said she knows almost nothing about ASI and what it does. She said by having events in areas where there is a lot of traffic on campus, the student government is more approachable.

One student, junior civil engineering major Sumair Arif, said he couldn't help but hear the address when he walked across campus.

"I saw people gathering, and so I wanted to see what was happening," Arif said. "Having the event in public attracts people and gives them an opportunity to see what is going on."

As an attendee of the event, Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez said it is good for ASI to hold events in the quad where the students are because it increases the organization's visibility.

Gonzalez said he was happy with the performance of ASI over the last year.

"They set a high threshold for the incoming board members to reach for," Gonzalez said.

One of ASI's greatest accomplishments this year was the march to the State Capitol in which 4,000 students from all across California attended. The effort was in protest of student fee increases as a result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts, Romero said.

Roberto Torres, ASI secretary of State Affairs and recently elected executive vice president, said he was very happy with the accomplishments of ASI over the last year.

"Every year, ASI sets the bar higher and I think this year (it) definitely set the bar much higher than ever before," Torres said. "We have been able to accomplish so many things for the students, much more than ever before."

Romero said ASI hit every point of the Strategic Plan that was in place at the beginning of the year.

The first strategic goal of ASI this year was to make the image of the organization more apparent. Romero said this was accomplished through "Days in the Quad" events, "Coffee and Conversation" discussions and marches to the Capitol.

Student representation in committees for environmental sustainability was ASI's second goal. Walter Wallace, ASI vice president of University Affairs, said ASI offices use 100 percent recycled paper and as a result, all board meetings are paperless. In addition, ASI distributes water bottles to reduce the number of disposable plastic bottles in use on campus.

The third goal was to make the environment of Sac State more inviting for the community and alumni. ASI accomplished this through inviting the alumni to the end-of-the-year banquet and focusing the attention on the alumni.

Putting electronic signs on campus to advertise ASI events and assisting in emergency situations are long-term goals of ASI that this year's board began, Romero said.

The fourth goal of the plan was to promote advancement. ASI has begun to look into moving the ASI offices to a separate building in hopes of making the organization more accessible to the campus as well as the Sacramento community.

Torres said one accomplishment ASI achieved this year was postponing an increase in graduate student fees. The organization obtained student opinion through surveys and found that graduate students on campus were not opposed to an increase, because many felt the increase would benefit students.

The California State Student Association is now reviewing the increase to determine what benefit graduate students could have.

In addition to focusing on its goals for the year, ASI athletic director Armand Jackson said ASI funds 48 percent of athletics and was able to make it possible for Sac State students to attend home games free of charge with a school ID card.

Derek Fleming can be reached at dfleming@statehornet.com.

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