Editor-in-Chief
ASI’s Executive Vice President Jennifer Sanchez and Vice President of University Affairs Anish Mohan took suggestions from the board at this week’s meeting on May 6.
Because of time constraints for a closed session, the board was only able to discuss the garden for a short time.
This Friday the board will discuss it further and present ideas as well as a resolution for the board to vote on.
Last Friday, Sanchez and Mohan took ideas as to what the $42,000 should go to for the garden if the resolution passes this Friday.
Some of the options were funding student assistants or funding an area of the garden.
“We’re going to price those out and figure out exactly which one the board would be interested in funding and how much that is going to cost,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez said she thinks the board is very interested in funding the garden, but they want to make sure they are funding the right thing.
“They want to get more information and ensure that it is going to be successful, and that is what this meeting is going to be all about,” said Sanchez.
Mohan said they will discuss the options with former ASI President Derek Stotler and Executive Assistant of the President Evelyn Young and bring back a resolution during next week’s meeting.
The garden is roughly estimated to cost around $170,000; however, Sanchez said it could be less or it could be more.
According to Assistant Vice President of Facilities Management Patrick Jacobs, the University Garden will be behind the Roadrunner Softball Complex and adjacent to the Environmental Studies Area.
The garden will be maintained by volunteers.
“I believe it’s going to be a combination of students, staff and outside community people, who are interested in the garden,” said Jacobs. “It’s my understanding that none of them are going to be paid.
Jacobs said the garden is a good idea and has a lot of merit,but funding of it can be hard. However, he added that Executive Assistant of the President Evelyn Young has found a local family (Rudnick), who is into farming and ranching, and that might help with the garden.
Food Service Director David Hveem said that he was unaware if Aramark, which is CSUB’s food service vendor, had agreed to buy produce from the garden.
However, former ASI President Derek Stotler said that Aramark agreed to buy produce, but it was with the former Food Service Director Mike Neal.
Executive Director Search
During its closed session, ASI discussed the remaining two candidates for the executive director position.
The two candidates are Illaria Esco who was the director of student clubs and organizations at the University of Redlands and Sarah O’ Steen, who was the residence halls director at Washington State University.
Esco visited CSUB on Friday and O’ Steen visited the campus on May 3.
According to ASI President Mike Kwon, the board can’t discuss about the candidates. However, the board will discuss with Associate Vice President for Student Affairs James Drnek which candidate they liked more or think is a better fit.
Elections
Applications for ASI elections are now available to be picked up in the Student Union. The applications are also accessible on RunnerSync.
The deadline to fill out the applications and turn them in to run for this year’s elections is Friday, May 13 at noon. This year there will be 24 positions (5 executive positions and 19 director positions) available for students to run for.
The executive positions available are executive president, executive vice president, vice president of university affairs, vice president of finance and vice president of programming and publicity.
Additionally, on May 13, there will be an Executive Officer Meeting from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. and a mandatory orientation at 1 p.m. The campaign dates will run from May 13 to May 26 and the polls for students to vote for each candidate will open on May 25 and close on May 26.
For more information on the election or on ASI’s election codes, go to ASI’s page on the school’s website.
