Cameran Patterson has a vision of change for Fresno State.

Patterson is a sophomore running for Associated Students, Inc. president for next year. He said that he wants to, “create policies that assist in maximizing opportunities as far as life goes, and as far as education goes.”

Patterson became involved with ASI as a freshman while he was new to the area — he is originally from Wisconsin. Patterson saw ASI as an opportunity to be active on campus and has stayed involved ever since. As a freshman, he was on the ASI legal committee, and he is currently a senator at-large representing Athletics and Recreation.

Patterson is also involved in many cultural groups on campus, like Black Student Union, Onyx, Cru, United Students Pride, Amerasia, Muslim Student Association and Hmong Student Association. He is also a part of the fraternity Sigma Nu.

“I think I bring about a new vibrant voice that hasn’t been seen in the presidential campaign in recent years,” Patterson said.

Voter turnout for ASI has been relatively low. Its record peak was at 12 percent turnout for the campus. Patterson said that he wants to give those students a voice and get more students to participate in the ASI election. He went on a tour of several campus groups to get students more involved and aware of what is going on on their campus.

“One of the best gifts I can bring to the table is just my overall informance, so it doesn’t just come from ASI senate meetings,” Patterson said. “My allegiance isn’t to executive members in ASI — it’s not to senate members in ASI. It’s to the Fresno State students.”

Patterson went on to say that Fresno State has a negative stigma of being a commuter campus, and student often fail to see the beauty of students from all over the Central Valley with different backgrounds coming together and getting involved.

“Fresno State is one of the most diverse schools around the country — hands down,” he said. “But I think students feel like they are overlooked in the grand scheme of things and it’s not just one particular group, it is a lot of different groups,” he said, “I just want to give those students a voice.”

Another important issue to Patterson is making sure that students feel safe on campus.

“Under my presidency, I really hope to put more lights here on campus, because I really think that will help increase the safety morale that we have here at Fresno State.”

Patterson also said he wanted to set up a judiciary board under his presidency that would investigate cases of sexual assault.

“I’m asking students to put their faith in me as a president, but not only me, but the team that I am running with,” Patterson said. “There are a bunch of new faces here in ASI and it is just a new dawn, and this is going to be a historic election.”