Jenn Brown
Guardian
When you meet blonde-haired, soft-spoken Jenn Brown, it’s hard to believe that she is really the new A.S. president. Her smiling face hardly seems like that of a politician, which is fitting because she never imagined she would be president of anything.
“”You will not see me running in an election ever again,”” Brown said. “”That’s not part of the grand plan.””
The ethnic studies and political science major got into school politics as a freshman with a passion for parking issues.
Guardian
“”My freshman year I applied to be the Marshall parking representative,”” Brown said. “”I applied and they made me senator, and I was like, ‘OK.'””
Brown said that Sixth College is going to pose a specific challenge to the A.S. Council in the coming year.
“”One of the big things we’re going to face is Sixth College and how to incorporate Sixth College,”” Brown said. “”Especially the ERC students who will be living in Pepper Canyon, which is not a place where freshmen feel comfortable.””
Brown said that the A.S. Council, under her watchful eye, will make a special effort to make sure the student body is invested in its decisions.
With 27 percent of the student body voting, that means only 9 percent voted for the Students First slate. Brown wants people to know that Associated Students really has the power to change students’ lives, and says she will try very hard to engage students in the issues that pertain to them.
While Brown certainly has a lot on her plate, not all of her goals are on the grand scale.
“”Blue and gold awnings in Price Center,”” she said with a smile.
Navneet Grewal
As commissioner of communication, Navneet Grewal might actually get UCSD radio station KSDT a frequency one day.
“”The frequency in San Diego costs $1 million for an FM station, and it’s monopolized by Clear Channel,”” Grewal said. “”However, UCSD has a couple of options. The main one we’re looking at right now is commissioning a study to show that, with the new technology, you don’t need a .3 difference [between stations].””
Grewal, who co-founded The Nightcap, an alternative, on-campus publication, got into politics through her involvement in on-campus media.
“”I decided I would run because I think with the media on campus, there’s not a lot of exposure and I think that really needs to be changed,”” Grewal said.
However, what really sparked her interest in running were her fellow students on the Students First ticket.
“”They’re all the people I have known who have done amazing things at UCSD,”” Grewal said.
Besides getting UCSD a radio frequency, Grewal says she would really like to see more exposure for on-campus media.
“”There’s a media fair this year, and I want that to be bigger,”” Grewal said. “”I also want the UCSD Web site to have a link to media orga nizations.””
Although the media budget is limited, Grewal wants to help on-campus media find alternative sources of funding in addition to A.S. money.
Grewal also wants to see an increase in diversity.
“”I know right now there’s a lot of talk about diversity,”” she said. “”But there’s not a whole lot of things being done.””
Jeremy Gallagher
The new commissioner of services and enterprises is a Marshall sophomore communication major.
“”I sort of got into the political arena kind of randomly,”” Jeremy Gallagher said.
Through working with the Marshall television station, Gallagher became a representative in the Marshall College Council.
“”I had a really awesome time on the college council,”” Gallagher said. “”I learned a lot and made a lot of friends and I wanted to continue that experience.””
Gallagher applied for a position in the Services and Enterprises Office and when it came time for elections, he was asked to run on the Students First ticket.
Gallagher wants to expand Triton Taxi by making it easier and more convenient to sign up for the program. He also wants to make lecture notes available online. However, he said the most important issue facing The A.S. council right now is improving communication between student organizations and A.S. council.
“”That’s something that has to be improved,”” Gallagher said. “”One thing I think that really helps is the way SOFAB [Student Oganization Funding Advisory Board] is reformed. We also have a couple senators who are working on improving communications.””
Kevin Hsu
The new vice president internal, Kevin Hsu, hasn’t been planning his political career since the second grade.
“”When people ask me why I do Associated Students, I tell them it’s just a thing I got into,”” Hsu said. “”You get involved on campus because that’s part of the whole college experience.””
Though student government was relatively new to him, Hsu didn’t miss a beat getting involved once he came to college. The sophomore Warren student has promised, among other things, to reform Student Organizations and Leadership Opportunities.
“”Right now, S.O.L.O. advisers, for whatever reason, will impede student organizations from putting on events,”” Hsu said. “”I think one of the problems right now is there is no accountability for S.O.L.O. advisers. Part of that accountability is to see if we can have more direct student control over S.O.L.O. advisers that are supposed to be helping our organizations.””
When talking about such ambitious tasks and reforms, Hsu admits that it is often hard being a student going against staff.
“”I think students who try to participate in the community at large run into this a lot,”” Hsu said. “”You’ll have professional staff or professional activists, and they look at you like you don’t even have a college degree.””
Hsu manages to take it all in stride. He one day hopes to go into public service and perhaps become an elected official.
Brie Finegold
The new commissioner of student advocacy is a John Muir College junior student majoring in political science. Her role as a student advocate extends beyond her work on the A.S. Council. Finegold also works in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Office and she enjoys working for her fellow students.
“”The reason I wanted to run for student advocacy is I really like fighting on behalf of people,”” Finegold said. “”I really like working with people to either get out of trouble they were accused of or advance goals they have.””
Finegold is a natural activist. She is currently campaigning to get ethnic studies into all California high school curriculums.
“”Most of the activism I do is with a group called Youth Organizing Communities, working for educational justice in high schools,”” Finegold said.
As commissioner of student advocacy, Finegold said she will work to make campus police and RSOs more accountable.
“”One of the big things I’m going to be working on … is establishing a police review board,”” Finegold said. “”It will be a committee made of student, staff and faculty … and that committee would help shape the policy of the police department so they would truly be serving the campus.””
As far as a future in politics, Finegold says she is toying with the idea of becoming a lawyer.
“”I’m thinking of maybe being a public defender,”” Finegold said.
However, she also wants to teach.
