ASI aims to pull discounted Sea World tickets from USU

The Associated Students, Inc. Senate is reviewing a resolution to stop the sale of tickets in the University Student Union for the San Diego theme park SeaWorld.

ASI Sen. Rick Payan presented the resolution so that Cal State Long Beach could take a stance on this issue in order to make it a more globally discussed issue in hopes of finding a resolution.

“As a board, we should take an official stance against the animal cruelty that is occurring at SeaWorld,” Payan said.

He recommended that the board bring the resolution to the Board of Trustees in order to remove the sale of SeaWorld tickets at the Information Center in the USU.

“Now that we have a lot of proof of animal cruelty from CNN and ‘Blackfish,’ I think it is only right that the university take an official stance against it and stop selling their tickets,” Payan said.

The 2013 documentary “Blackfish” is about killer whales and their “cruel treatment in captivity … and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry,” according to the film’s official website.

Payan told the board in his report that the USU will be screening “Blackfish” in order to inform more students about the issue.

“It is not only our world…you have to start small, that’s why I’m bringing it to the university,” Payan said. “I’ve presented it before but with the new year, I thought I’d present it again.”

The resolution was previously opposed by the ASI purchase deeds subcommittee, which voted to continue to sell SeaWorld tickets.

“The USU board voted unanimously to keep selling the SeaWorld tickets to allow students the choice to purchase them or not,” said Vanessa Mendoza, chair of USU purchase deeds committee.

In response to the opposition, Payan edited the resolution; the latest version was presented at Wednesday’s meeting, and it suggested that the board ask the various committees and Board of Trustees to reconsider the sale of tickets.

“Looking over the statistics over the years, this last year, we’ve lost 90 percent of sales we used to make from selling SeaWorld tickets,” ASI Senator Joshua Wong said.

SeaWorld tickets in the USU are discounted $3 from the normal sale price for students.

The Board of Trustees will vote on the issue of the sale of SeaWorld tickets in their meeting on Friday. ASI will vote on the resolution in its third and final reading at next Wednesday’s meeting.