If new Associated Students, Inc. official Jessica Dirks has her way, Cal State Long Beach night students could have access to more campus events and activities.
Dirks, a junior sociology major who takes all her classes at night, was recently appointed as ASI government general elections officer. She said she wants to use her position to help night students feel more connected to the campus community.
“Their voices are not being heard,” she said. “There aren’t many opportunities for them to be more active in school. It’s off-putting and saddening.”
Dirks said her desire to help night students become more involved motivated her to join ASI.
“Last semester and this semester, I’d arrive during events and by the time I’d come out of class, events were ending or already done,” Dirks said. “For night students, you have to really go out of your way to join something or to even find out about different groups or events.”
Major school events, such as the Week of Welcome, are planned during times that are inconvenient for night students, Dirks said.
“It sucks because the events during welcome week are the gateway to getting involved and learning more about different groups,” she said.
ASI Vice President Jonathon Bolin said he spoke to ASI Chief Programming Officer Irving Barcenas earlier this month about the possibility of increasing nighttime events.
Bolin said, however, that Barcenas told him there have already been events planned in the late afternoon.
“Unless we have events that run until midnight, I’m not sure what we can do,” Bolin said.
Dirks said that although a few evening events, such as movie-showings, panelists, or mixers, do exist, they don’t always work for students who get out of class at 10 p.m.
“I can understand why they don’t let things run so long, because it does become a little bit of a liability,” she said. “But I think we should have a little bit of an extension every now and then, especially for big events at the beginning of the semester.”
Dirks said she is reading up on the University Student Union rules and policies so she can try to push for more events in the evening.
Freshman pre-nursing major Kathleen Monasterio said she thinks Dirks’ goals are admirable but will not be easy to execute.
“When I took a night class last semester, I wouldn’t show up at school until it was about to start,” Monasterio said. “I would go home as soon as it ended. It would be nice to have more opportunities and activities for night students but I don’t know how many of them would actually go.”
Dirks said that even though people think night students don’t have time or don’t care enough to attend events or join clubs, they still deserve the opportunity.
“I can’t force anyone to participate, but they deserve to have things to do, and to be informed about them,” she said.