Associated Students elects new leadership
Chico State Associated Students finalized the results Friday for the 17 student representative positions for government affairs for 2021-2022 after Election Day was held Wednesday and Thursday.
Beginning May 15, newlyelected President Duncan Young and Executive Vice President Taryn Burns will join 15 other students to help serve a certain need or a need that has been identified by the students at Chico State, according to A.S. Marketing Director Anna Paladini. Young, who was endorsed by current Associated Students President Bre Holbert, will be in his first term as
president after originally beginning with Associated Students as a student appointee. In February, Young was named a recipient of the 39th annual Lieutenant Robert Merton Rawlins Merit Award for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Chico State.
Young is a senior at Chico State majoring in economics and said in his candidate profile prior to being elected, “If elected A.S. president, I will work with the administration to maximize the number of safe in-person activities in the upcoming year, support club redevelopment, and reimagine programs that train future student leaders
and representatives.”
Officials, who must meet eligibility requirements including a 2.5 cumulative GPA, maintain a 2.3 GPA each semester while in office as well as meet enrollment status requirements, will sit on the Associated Students Board of Directors, the Government Affairs Committee through May 2022.
In an election which is solely dependent on Chico State student participation, Paladini said this year’s election saw 12 percent of Chico State students participate, or 1,828 students out of 15,344 total enrollment. The number was a decrease from the 19 percent participation in the 2020 A.S. election.
“In terms of our overall approach we did have fewer students who initially opted in to be candidates, who initially
filled out the intent to file packets and took the steps to become candidates officially on the ballot,” Paladini said. “However we did have numerous students who did participate as write-ins and were elected to positions.”
Though the president is the head of the government affairs team and serves as the liaison between the Associated Students and the university President Gayle Hutchinson, each member serves a role within the student body. The vice president will serve as the chair of the government affairs committee.
Austin Lapic will be returning for his second term as vice president of business and finance and said he returned to A.S. because after joining A.S. in his first year as a Wildcat because,
“I wanted to continue with what my idea was of my experience at Chico State. How I could improve the experience for students here at Chico State and what I can do within my role to maybe push administration or push the school into a better place for students.”
Lapic said it is hard to ignore the biggest change for the 2021-2022 team will be returning to in-person as a team and supporting a group of students who have never experienced the Chico State campus life in-person.
With each team of newly elected student government affairs team comes a new perspective and new goals, and in the next year the Associated Students faculty and staff are planning to prepare the student leaders for success.
“Each year we take a lot of time to get to know our officers and understand their perspectives as well as their goals in office,” Paladini said. “Our government affairs team and our staff members do a really good job of taking extra care to listen to those student perspectives and try to accomplish and support those student goals throughout the entire term.”
Elected officials
Other winners from this year’s election joining Young and Burns and Lapic include: Vice President of Facilities and Services Kiley Kirkpatrick; Director of Social Justice and Equity Karina Vazquez; Director of University Affairs Olivia Rosso; Commissioner of Community Affairs Tyrell Simmons; Commissioner of Sustainability Affairs Michelle Borges; Commissioner of Legislative Affairs Michelle Davis and Commissioner of Student Engagement and Advocacy Megan Oliver.
There were also senators elected from each college department at the university and they include: College of Agriculture Senator Tyler Jenkins; College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ Katherine Chai; College of Communication and Education’s Krystal Alvarez; College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management’s Matthew Burns; College of Humanities and Fine Arts’ Demondra Martin; College of Natural Sciences’ James Lawrence and the College of Business’ Nina Cardinale.
The full results can be found on the Chico State Associated Students website at https://bit.ly/2Q95yfw.