Dylan Tom and Ennovy “Novy” Bowman have big ideas.
Tom, a senior majoring in public relations, is running to be the next president of Associated Students, Inc. Bowman, also a senior majoring in public relations, is running as his vice president.
Tom and Bowman have been friends since they attended Lou Dantzler High School in Los Angeles together. They served on the student government’s events committee — Bowman was the treasurer.
Together, the duo is promising to bring a “new Beach vibe” if elected.
Tom and Bowman said this new vibe would be the creation of a better sense of community among students at the Cal State Long Beach campus.
“In our campaign, we want campus community and transparency,” Tom said.
After looking at other California State University campuses such as Northridge and Los Angeles, Tom said he felt they had a better sense of campus community due to a much bigger variety of campus activities.
Their campaign is proposing more community activities and events such as concerts, carnivals and “Beach Days.”
According to Tom, “Beach Days” would be organized days for Cal State Long Beach students at the Long Beach City Beach, Bolsa Chica State Beach and other beaches in the area. These days would be a time for CSULB students to hang out together, relax and enjoy the beach together.
Beach Days would either be in the afternoons during weekdays or all day on the weekends.
Another idea of theirs is to hold a “Beach Fest.”
Tom said the event would consists of local musicians and bands, carnival rides, and local vendors. Ideally, it would be an end of the school year celebration.
They’d also like to bring big-name musicians to the Walter Pyramid for student concerts.
Tom said he has already been in contact with CSUN’s student government about their Associated Students budgets for the on-campus events.
When it comes to recent campus events, Tom and Bowman are not afraid to discuss the issues.
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In regards to the recent situation where a 20-year-old male student pulled a knife in class, Bowman said she doesn’t like how it was handled.
The administration brushed over in the incident too quickly, according to Tom.
“Without social media, [students] wouldn’t have found out about it,” he said.
Tom and Bowman are calling for more transparency regarding incidents like this on campus. They said that even before they heard about the knife incident, they felt that there was a need for more administrative transparency.
One of their campaign platforms is to create a panel comprised of ASI, faculty and administration representatives to discuss and decide “controversial student offensives.” The panel would also determine how to notify the campus about such events and decisions.
When asked about sexual assault on campus, Tom and Bowman said they want to do a better job of educating the campus on consent.
“We need to make it popular to do the right thing,” Tom said. “We need to make that a trending topic.”
Bowman said she wants to have more information booths on campus to fuel the discussion on consent and sexual assault.
“I really care about people and things becoming better,” Bowman said. “Our generation is the future for making things better; their voice can make things better.”