13 SDL candidates win ASI election

Associated Students Inc. Chief of Staff Joseph Phillips will take over as ASI president in the fall after beating ASI Treasurer Agatha Gucyski by only 47 votes in this year’s student government elections.

Phillips, ASI Secretary for Systemwide Affairs Nayiri Baghdassarian and the other 11 candidates who ran on the Students for Diverse Leadership ticket all won their respective positions.

Phillips, who received 50.57 percent of the votes casted in the general election, said he is excited to be ASI president next year.

“Nayiri and I have a lot of awesome ideas that we are going to kick-start in the summer,” Phillips said. “I’ve been writing ideas, goals and random stuff I want to do. In a nutshell, I’m feeling awesome.”

Baghdassarian, who ran alongside Phillips, won 58.19 percent of the vote and beat College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Senator Anh Tran to become next year’s ASI vice president.

Phillips and Baghdassarian were both off campus when ASI General Elections Officer Jessica Dirks announced the election results to a crowd of students and ASI candidates in the University Student Union courtyard on March 27. Both said they were in constant contact with members of the SDL team to learn of the results.

Upon hearing the news, Phillips said he screamed, cried, kissed his girlfriend and called Baghdassarian.

“Nayiri [Baghdassarian] was the best running mate ever, and I was so relieved when she won,” Phillips said. “I am glad that [students] chose us together as executives.”

Baghdassarian said it was a “total shock” and that she felt “a rush of emotions” when she learned she will become ASI vice president next year.

“I was shocked, I was happy, I was thankful, I was flattered,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s real.’ I honestly feel really thankful that students wanted Joe [Phillips] and me to be their next president and vice president.”

Next year’s ASI treasurer has yet to be decided, as candidates Dominique Noble and Kalien Clark received roughly 48 percent and 40 percent of the votes, respectively.

An online run-off election for the treasurer position will be held between Noble and Clark tomorrow. The online run-off will be open for students Tuesday through Thursday. Electronic ballots will be emailed to students midnight on Tuesday.

ASI Executive Director Richard Haller said 4,127 students, or 12 percent of the student body, voted in the election.

“I was certainly worried about the voter turnout at first, but I’m glad to see we exceeded 4,000,” Haller said. “I was very surprised at how the margins were so close, especially for president. It really shows the importance of voting.”

However, Gucyski, who narrowly lost to Phillips, said that she was disappointed by the turnout and the lack of student participation in this year’s elections.

“I just wish there was a higher voter turnout, obviously, and I wish there was more excitement for the campaign,” she said. “I think students didn’t really get to know the candidates this year.”

Gucyski said her biggest concern, however, is who will take over her position as ASI treasurer.

“I want to make sure that whoever is in office of treasurer is a really good candidate,” she said. “Someone that students can trust, someone who will do a really good job, and someone who will make sure students get taken care of.”

Clark, who ran on the same ticket as Gucyski and Tran, said she is excited to move forward in this week’s run-off election.

“Even if I do get the position with two candidates that I did not run with, I am happy to work together to get things done,” Clark said. “This is really what it’s all about, helping the students and putting aside past differences and past tickets and just working together as a team.”

Phillips and Baghdassarian echoed Clark’s sentiment and said that even though all 13 SDL members were elected into ASI, it should not cause any conflict.

“We are looking forward to working with all winners, SDL or not, to better Long Beach,” Phillips said.

Baghdassarian said it is a valid concern for an outsider to think that SDL will cause a clique mentality within ASI, but in reality it should not cause any problems.

“At the end of the day, we’re all future representatives, and we all work for the students,” Baghdassarian said. “That’s what ASI is for. So it wouldn’t make any sense to me for any type of conflict between members who were a part of SDL and who weren’t to happen.”

Some candidates who lost in the election said the results will not deter them from participating in student government and advocacy.

Tran, who lost the vice presidential candidacy, said she will definitely stay involved in representing students.

“I will continue to work to help the groups that I promised to help, like [Assembly Bill 540] students,” she said. “What I do will not change. It’s just that I don’t have the [vice president] title.”

Gucyski said that she plans to look into opportunities outside of ASI. She wants to continue helping the community and said she may consider looking into working with non-profits.

“I’m still very passionate about higher education, so I’ll go to the California State Student Association and maybe get a position there,” Gucyski said. “I’ll do more advocacy work for higher education. These are the kinds of things that I can do. It’s not a big deal. There’s still so many things out there for me.”

The complete list of elected ASI candidates for the 2014-15 school year can be found on the ASI website. Results from the run-off election for ASI treasurer will be announced Friday at the USU Southwest Terrace.