A.S. Update: The 2008-2009 A.S. Council to be Sworn in on May 7

The Associated Students serves as the official voice of the student body at San Diego State University.  It is this body of elected student representatives that not only advocates for student interests, but serves as the Board of Directors for the corporation that operates many important campus services, like the Aztec Center Student Union, Aztec Recreation Center, and Cox Arena.

The annual Spring General Elections were held from March 24-27, and approximately 10% of the student body turned out to vote on their WebPortal accounts.  In the weeks leading up to the election, you may have noticed signs, T-shirts, fliers, handouts, and postings on social networking websites like Facebook.com and MySpace.com promoting various candidates.

Voters elected the five executive officers, along with representatives from within each of the University's seven colleges. Additionally, there are two seats representing Unclassified Studies (students who have not declared a major). Graduate students had the opportunity to vote for the president of the Graduate Student Association, who serves as a voting member on the A.S. Council.

The Associated Students Council is comprised of the five executive officers, plus four seats representing the College of Arts & Letters, four seats representing the College of Business Administration, one seat representing the College of Education, two seats representing the College of Engineering, two seats representing the College of Health & Human Services, six seats representing the College of Professional Studies & Fine Arts, four seats representing the College of Sciences, two seats for Unclassified Studies, and one seat for the Graduate Student Association. Further, a number of student organizations have a seat on the council, with each group's representative being elected internally by the respective organization. These groups include: Afrikan Student Union, Andrea O'Donnell Women's Resource Center, Andres Bonfacio Samahan, Asian Pacific Student Alliance, Association of Chicana Activists, Honors Council, Inter-Fraternity Council, International Student Association, Jewish Student Union, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Student Union, Native American Student Alliance, Panhellenic Association, Residence Hall Association, and the United Sorority and Fraternity Council.

The following students were elected to serve as the Associated Students Executive Team for the 2008-2009 year:

• President: James Poet
• Executive Vice President: Joy Salvatin
• Vice President of Finance: Grant Garske
• Vice President of University Affairs: Tim Velasquez
• Vice Presdident of External Affairs: Daniel "Oz" Osztreicher

Poet has been elected to serve a second term as President, which has only happened once before in the organization's 76-year history.

The new officers will be sworn in at the Associated Students Council Meeting on Wednesday, May 7 at 6 pm in Council Chambers.

To see the complete list of General Elections results, visit http://as.sdsu.edu/govt/election/results.html.