B’y Robert Rios
Co-News Editor
The Associated Student Inc. elections may have been done in the midst of a pandemic that shut down most of the campus, but Rihab Shuaib still came out a winner: she won election as the next student body president, of CSUDH, the first female to serve in that role in some time.
“It feels amazing to be able to serve the students as ASI President,” said Rihab, who will be the special guest today at 3 p.m. on the ASI Conversation corner. “Holding this position means a lot to me and my peers as well. We have not had a female ASI President in years and to be able to break the cycle is very empowering. Students have placed a lot of faith in me so I take this role seriously.”
Shuaib, a senior majoring in human resource management, has been part of ASI since fall 2018 and has served in two financial positions, student activity commission and currently as vice president of finance. Shuaib has attended CSUDH since freshman year in 2016 and after graduating plans on receiving a master’s in higher education leadership development.
As president, Shuaib wants to make sure academic and student support services are well equipped to handle the needs of students. As mentioned in her candidate statement, she wants to ensure everyone has “access to the academic resources that guarantee 4-year and 2-year graduations, and that will make [students] competitive in the job market.”
“I always want students to feel comfortable coming into ASI, “Shuaib said. “This is our student government; we pay $135 a year to get the representation we deserve. I will do my
best to make myself available to students that have questions, ideas, concerns. Whenever a student feels they are not being heard, I want them to feel comfortable coming to ASI. Self-advocacy is extremely important and I want to empower students to speak their truth and demand what they need.”
According to ASI Executive Director Rasheedah Shakoor, of the last 11 ASI presidents, four have been female.
“This will be my third year working with Rihab,” Shakoor said. “She is a compassionate and strong young woman with a passion for the student voice. She is particularly motivated around student fee dollars being used directly for student-directed initiatives. Her sense of fairness leads her in making decisions to not exclude others, particularly those who are marginalized. I definitely look forward to working with Rihab and seeing her growth as the ASI President.”
Shuaib will take the helm of CSUDH’s student government from Christian Jackson, who served two terms as president. Three other ASI positions were filed for 2020-2021: Ev Campos Martinez will be director of student services; Pedro Crespo will serve as student activities commissioner; and Jonathan Mancio will be the representative for the College of Business Administration and Public Policy.
All of the four ran unopposed and each received at least 8o percent of the vote.
Not so fortunate was the My Asi My Fee measure on the ballot. Nearly 73 percent of voters chose to not increase the student fee $50.
A total of 2,015 CSUDH students participated in the election, which was held MArch 16-19.
