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AS must inspire student interest

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AS must inspire student interest

WITH THE SEMESTER nearing its midway point and midterms well behind most, many students have settled into their semester routines and are now preparing for a cold, yet quiet winter on campus.


In fact — with the obvious exception of a bank robbery that resulted in a near-campus shooting early September — very little appears to have happened this semester in a general sense.


As the seasons change, one thing continues to remain a constant: a lack of any sort of campus-wide dialogue to engage Fresno State’s student community.


And this is where our attention should turn to Associated Students, our elected representatives.


Amid concerns over parking, University High School, tuition costs, overpriced textbooks and the daily grind of being a student, little has been done in recent memory to improve our academic and collegiate experience at Fresno State or to promote a meaningful discussion of these issues.


Unfortunately, AS has not been active enough this semester in addressing these concerns.


A cursory look at the minutes from the last three Senate meetings, available online under the Organizations tab on Blackboard, points to the lack of urgency our student government takes in making the already hectic lives of students slightly more manageable.


Seven weeks into the semester, students are justified in wanting more and in feeling AS is disconnected from the needs of their constituency.


And perhaps this is why fewer than 1,400 of the more than 20,000 students attending Fresno State participated in the election last spring and why students rarely attend such meetings.


These trends result from AS’s lack of presence on campus.


Most students are not aware of how AS serves them, if at all, which is unfortunate because an active student community requires leadership.


As such, AS must reengage Fresno State’s student community and demonstrate that it can promote solutions to issues important to Fresno State students — hopefully encouraging a more involved student body in the process.

 

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