UPDATED at 10 p.m.Associated Students Inc. President Angela Arriola met with Editor in Chief Nate Miller and Breaking News Editor Jamie Gonzales on Friday to discuss improving graduation rates, technological improvements, the ongoing Western Association of Schools and Colleges process and some goals for the future.

The one-hour interview is the third biweekly meeting with the ASI president and members of the editorial board.

TextbooksDirector of Undeclared Shelby Ornellas is in charge of a program to organize each director within ASI to contact college deans and department chairs with a goal of encouraging professors to order textbooks earlier each semester.

One of the problems ASI faces is that professors sometimes don’t know what class they will teach the next semester and if they don’t know what class they are going to teach, they can’t order textbooks early.

“If we work together, specifically on our campus, we might be able to save anywhere from 25 to 50 percent off the cost of textbooks,” Arriola said.

Arriola said ASI’s involvement was spurred in part by the urging of Director Bookstore Services Julia Milardovich, who spoke with associate professor of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Tony Sheppard, at the Oct. 4 ASI board meeting. Milardovich told the ASI board, with advance notice from professors, the bookstore can shop for lower prices on new and used books.

A portion of Ornellas’ textbook program includes a student study and awareness plan. StudentVoice, a Buffalo-based assessment provider founded in 1999, will be used to survey students about textbook prices, what ASI can do to help and what do students know, in general, about textbooks.

Mobile devices, such as Palm Pilots, will be used to ask students the various questions. According to the StudentVoice website, data is then sent to a secure website for tabulation.

Specific questions and a timeline for the survey program will be spelled out at the ASI board meeting at 2 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the University Union Foothill Suite. Arriola said the survey would be completed by spring.

“In order to increase awareness, we’re going to have to take a lot of time to reach a lot of people,” Arriola said.

More money for scholarshipsArriola said ASI wants to increase the money it affords to student scholarships. Student government currently awards $15,000 each semester for scholarships. The 2006-07 ASI budget is $10,140,090.

Members will be appointed to a scholarship committee at the next ASI board meeting. Their job is to develop scholarship criteria, Arriola said.

Continued increases to the ASI budget would mean that an increase in scholarship money wouldn’t mean a decrease to another area in the budget, Arriola said.

“I think that what the board is going to deliberate in April and May is increasing scholarships, but the exact amount, we’re still going to decide on that,” Arriola said. “We do want to see more scholarships offered. – We want to reach out to students who are committed to serving in their community, anything that enhances student government or public life or community life.

Internal improvements within student governmentArriola said she has been examining areas within ASI needing improvement. Specific programming must occur each semester, the ASI board transition must be more detailed and comprehensive and job descriptions need to be written, she said.

Arriola said she wants the State of the Students Address to continue past her administration.

Vice President of Finance Tiffany Huang. Vice President of Academic Affairs Lynsie Hebert, Vice President of University Affairs Chris Ramos, Director of Arts and Letters Christina Romero, Director of Business Shani Alford, Director of Education Adge Simon, Director of Health and Human Services Gabby McGrath and Director of Natural Sciences and Math Timothy Jones are new to ASI. Eight new members present a challenge, Arriola said.

“We’ve got to have a better transition for the incoming board, because if somebody has never had student government experience, it can be overwhelming,” Arriola said. “They haven’t had that prior experience. Let me tell you, that’s a good thing. I’m going to stress that over and over and over. This new board has been so fresh with their insights, with their perspectives and their criticism.”

Arriola said, while her job and that of the vice presidents are very clear of what’s required, the jobs of some of the board of directors need to be worked on.

AppointmentsAt the next ASI board meeting, various appointments will be made to committees.

Arriola will appoint David Pinck as the Faculty Senate Policies Committee Representative. will appoint four members to the Alternative Modes of Transportation and five members to the College Work Programs task forces.

Improving graduationArriola was one of three student government presidents to participate in the Facilitating Graduation Conference on Oct. 19 and 20 in Los Angeles. The Associated Students Inc. president from California State University, Channel Islands and San Diego State University Associated Students President Matt Keipper joined administrators, trustees and provosts to discuss improving graduation rates within the CSU system.

Trustees Debra Farar and George Gowgani, Provost Joe Sheley, Assistant Vice President and Dean of Academic Programs Mike Lee and Vice President of Student Affairs Lori Varlotta were also in attendance.

The 22-point initiative to help students get a bachelor’s degree by CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed includes reducing the number of units needed to obtain a degree, emphasizing graduation at orientation, tutoring, strong academic advising and reviews by academic peers. “We represented students,” Arriola said. “We attended some workshops that had to do with academic advising and policies specifically and made some really good contacts.”

Arriola said she will meet with Reed sometime in the spring to speak about academic advising after a resolution is prepared by ASI.

AccreditationStudent representatives met with members of WASC to state their concern with tuition, international student fees, classroom facilities, technology use in the classrooms, whether professors are trained in modern technology, safety, outdoor lighting and shuttle services.

Phillip Ung, an orientation leader, and Director of Engineering John Reynolds were present at the hour-long discussion, Arriola said.

“We addressed all of these issues with them. We told them these are our concerns,” Arriola said. “These are things, that once they are improved upon, can really make the difference between somebody choosing Sac State or somebody choosing, let’s say, UC Davis. You’ve got to be competitive technologically, you’ve go to be safe and we were just talking about how, if you can help students with all of these other areas, you’re going to facilitate graduation.”

State of the Students AddressArriola said while administration showed up to the 2nd annual State of the Students Address, student turnout was low at the Tuesday speech.

“It isn’t only my administration who is dealing with that issue,” Arriola said. “It’s something that happens across the board with ASI. Even at ASI events, in general, they’re just not very well attended. That’s one of the main drivers behind us creating the public affairs department and the marketing department.”

In the presentation, Arriola explained the progress of the five priorities for ASI during the 2006-07 school year. Students were updated on the development of academic advising, the recreation and wellness center, student affairs, housing and public affairs.

“One of the goals that we’ve been striving for is that we would set realistic goals; that way we could actually achieve them,” Arriola said. “We didn’t want to say we could solve parking issues or anything, and not be able to deliver.”

If you have questions you want the editorial board to ask the ASI president, send us an email or post a comment on this story. Your questions may be used at the next meeting with Angela Arriola.

Nate Miller can be reached at [email protected]