by Gina Brown
Asst. Managing Editor
“Lack of interest,” is how Nancy Adams, newly re-elected Associated Student Federation president described this year’s ASF election.
Adams ran unopposed in last Thursday’s ASF election, winning handily. Also winning was Jesus Sandoval, new ASF vice president, and Marissa Espinoza, ASF publicity director. All ran unopposed.
Adams, asked why the positions of president, vice president and publicity were unopposed, said, “People knew about the leadership positions, because flyers were available around the campus. When it comes down to it, people always wonder, ‘If there are so few candidates, why vote?’ Voting takes place because there are certain formalities which must be followed.”
Harold Braunstein, senior, election chairperson and ASF vice president, answered whether students were satisfied with how the government was running. He said he feels that certain officer positions require people who
have a thorough understanding of how the position works.
Some students “don’t want to be responsible for an officers position; they only want the responsibility of a forum member, and you can’t make someone run if they don’t want to,” said Braunstein.
“Some people think it is a lot of work and may be overwhelmed by the president’s responsibility,” said Adams.
“We even pushed back the deadline to encourage people to run for office,” she said.
“Students were given the opportunity to run for positions of leadership and did not take them. That concerns me. Maybe the time of year was not good, with mid-terms and papers due, and that’s understandable,” said Adams.
This should be a concern considering students who take these positions would be eligible for LEAD monies.
Ruby Montano, student activities director, would like to know what turned off students from running or whether they felt that they would not make a difference.
“I think changes in the constitution need to be made to allow more undergraduates the opportunity of running for executive offices. The current constitution limits elections. I think our administration and Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program is set up to help train students who may not have had forum positions,” said Lura Poggi, junior who attends the weekly meetings held by ASF.
The limited participation of students running for office could be because La Verne students can only run for the position of president and vice president if they have been on the Forum for at least one semester.
Carol Fetty, ASF adviser, said, “the elections were well publicized, and it seems as though the students running for office are blamed for having no opponent. I believe if students were sufficiently disturbed by the way the student government is being run, then the first thing they should do is challenge the candidate running.”
Applications are due for the positions of Board of Trustee representative, Forum member positions, committee chairpersons, ASF secretary and ASF accountant today, by 5 p.m., in the ASF Office located in the Supertents.
