Fall 2006 Platform - WE'RE HERE FOR YOU!

We'll Provide More Entertainment for You

  • Bring more bands and performers to the quad free of cost to you
  • Increase sports and recreation events that you can participate in

We'll Improve Existing Services for You

  • Work for the expansion and reliability of wireless internet access on campus
  • Work toward getting you units for taking classes at the Experimental College

We'll Prive More Information for You

  • Adopt-a-club - We'll regularly come to your clubs and groups even after we're elected to keep you informed
  • Create a centralized website for you to learn about student organizations and for existing groups to post infor for new members

We'll Make Your Money Work Harder for You

  • Money spent on events that target the greater student community
  • Make sure your money is responsibly allocated to student groups and student services that benefit you

Winter 2006 Platform - FOCUSING ON REALISTIC GOALS

Putting Money Back in Your Pocket

  • Reduce Tipsy Taxi back to $1, why pay more?
  • Rollback Book Exchange surcharge, then you might actually use it
  • Increase Scholarship Prizes available to students

Refocusing Outreach to Give You More

  • Restore Campus Safety Unit
  • Improve outreach by recognizing the diverse contributions of students to the campus community
  • Organize ASUCD Marketing & Promotions Office

Bringing Legitimacy Back to ASUCD

  • Moving towards consensus: Require a 2/3 majority to pass ASUCD Resolutions
  • Install an ASUCD Prosecutor to hold the Senate and Executive Office accountable
  • Implement bi-annual ASUCD Leadership Development Program

Putting the "S" Back in ASUCD

  • Guarantee funding for Club Finance Council and increase transparency in the application process
  • Host an ASUCD Debate and Speaker Series to educate on non-consensus issues
  • Incentive Program for the recruitment and retention of ASUCD student employees

Fall 2005 Platform Issues

Entertainment at Your Fingertips

  • Unity Through Diversity - Bring together the entire campus by working with Aggie Pack, cultural organizations and music groups to have more events on the quad
  • Expand Entertainment Council through more funding and outreach to outside promoters

So What's Going on Today?

  • Create an ASUCD Publicity Committee whose focus is to continually inform students of events happening on and off campus
  • Assist campus organizations with promoting their events in order to reach out to more people
  • Create a central campus information website specifically for publicizing events

Business Major at UCD

  • Work with the Academic Senate to bring an Undergraduate Business Major and Minor to UC Davis

Roll Over Pages

  • Work to make the number of pages you can print in the computer labs carry over with each quarter

Winter 2005 Platform Issues

Serve With Integrity

  • Hold ourselves to a higher standard
  • Create an ASUCD email newsletter and make greater use of public opinion polls to make ASUCD more transparent to students

Remote Printing Stations

  • Upload your papers to a central server on campus from home via the internet
  • On campus, simply slide your Reg. card at a printing station to have your paper print
  • Avoid, and help decrease, long lines at the computer labs

Finals Week Parking Permits

  • Work with TAPS to create a discounted, finals-week only, parking permit
  • Cut down on your Finals-week stress

Protect Party Rights

  • Work with the City of Davis to create a student-run party planning and management service
  • This service would reduce the threat of noise violations and your party being broken up
  • Lobby the City Council to protect your right to party

Student Focus maintains that they are "committed to campus safety, lobbying for more affordable student housing in Davis and low student fees."

Winter 2005 Platform Comments

I really like how the Student Focus ticket has made their first platform goal "serve with integrity". A noble goal in respect to past admitted deviance against the standard itself, I agree that the time has come for the active promotion of such good values for those who serve in student government. RobertBaron

  • Ya, I agree Robert, but I get the feeling that Sapana Shende and Jenni Beeman are pretty much in the same position as Gorbachev and his cabinet back in late 1991...
  • I just worry that "Hold ourselves to a higher standard" might mean "We won't cheat as much." - RevChad
  • On the topic of Serving with Integrity: According to this thread, Student Focus has reportedly ripped down (hundreds of) Friends Urging Campus Kindness' flyers.
    • Cindy Yu and Brianna Haag admit to having ripped down the flyers, and they reportedly apologized. They were asked to re-flyer for Friends Urging Campus Kindness, and Brianna Haag re-posted many of the removed flyers.
    • How on earth do we allow active ASUCD Senators and those running for office to participate in scandalous campaign tactics? This has been a recurring problem for the last four years on campus (and I am sure it isn't limited to what I have noticed). Because I am so sick of Student Focus and their backhanded tactics I think that a punishment for these transgressions is in order. — RobertBaron
      • Robert, while I agree that these kinds of actions should not be conducted, I think you are going to need something a little bigger to get the 2000+ signatures for a recall, such as Brianna getting arrested for something, or otherwise Brianna doing something that most students would not do themselves. Because of this, I feel that censure is the more feasible response at this time. Also, I would probably write this off as Brianna's realization that she may very well be the last active Student Focus party member to ever serve in the ASUCD Senate, since it seems that their only support today is coming solely from their friends, who are not to be confused with the friends of campus.

Taken from the Remote Printing Stations under platform issues: Upload your papers to a central server on campus from home via the internet — Don't we already have that?! It's called MySpace, it can be found under "tools" on MyUCDavis. Or are they proposing something different? AbbyLawson

  • Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But I think they mean that they want to establish Print Stations independent of the computer labs and their long lines. Somewhere, where you can just go up access MySpace and print your paper. AshleyOrsaba
    • Ashley, you are right on! We plan on creating stations that are set up just for quickly printing the documents you have saved without the use of one of the computer lab's computers. If you have any questions about Student Focus, feel free to email me. My address is on my personal page. —KaiSavaree-Ruess
    • They have those in Olson! The line is still hectic and long. I think actually printing from the wireless network (e.g. laptop) and picking it up would be cheapest and best.
      • I agree. I don't know any easy way to do it though.

The idea for a Finals week parking permit seems appealing, but wouldn't you run into the conflict of actually finding parking? Let's say so many people buy these parking permits that there will be ADDED STRESS of actually finding a parking spot. There is already a parking problem during the normal academic quarter, let alone finals week. So, I don't really see the need for this permit that will "cut down on our Finals-week stress."

Editorials & Articles

First off sapana and jenni have not been involved in any of the bull shit going on with senate....second, judge them based on the issues, so ask them questions rather than judging them on people who they are not associated with. and finally the remote printing stations would be used off of a myspace type site, but the difference is that you would not log into the server, yo would just swipe your card and be done —ArsenArikalfayan

  • Ari, thats exactly why Focus needed Sapana and Jenni. They are both regarded quite well by just about everyone. But, its gona suck for them cuz they have been handicapped, and therefore stigmad, by the bad rap that Focus has been developing over the past few years. Far too many people know about the dorm thing, and the voting for others thing, but the people last quarter got caught. Had they both been able to run 2 or more years ago, they might have averted Focus away from the path of the dark side... —PaulAmnuaypayoat
    • I agree with what you say, all im trying to bing home is the fact that A. they are not the ones who have committeed any offenses, and B. noone from the slate has any association with it, thus when i change the comments on the page, all im trying to do is assert that the FUCK way of thinking and promoting themselves is very much so wrong! —ArsenArikalfayan
      • Yeah, no, it's better to respond rather than change. Changing is cheating. —JaimeRaba
        • The current version is fine, i just wanted to maker light of the changed cast... —ArsenArikalfayan

A change in the cast does not mean a different script. The inherent problem is that Student Focus members have "seemed" to operate in a defunct manner; student fees have increased and new expenses have been made against the fiscal responsibility and health of ASUCD, and all under their watch over the past few years. If these candidates are different from the party and its past practices, which I beleive a few of them may be, then they should abandon their Student Focus brandname. This is all reasonable unless the bright yellow t-shirts are more of a cheerleading uniform than a common cause, at which point supporting the party would be irrational (unless you think cheerleading is more important than good governance). —RobertBaron

  • We decided to keep the name because Student Focus has also done many good things over the years and maintains a strong base of support. The current candidates, myself included, are much different then the previous candidates who have run but this can be said for almost any slate, party, ect. Although efforts put on by Student Focus may have increased student expenses in past years, the current slate is devoted to being fiscally conservative and efficient. Our hope is that you will judge us on our individual beliefs and policies, rather than our slate name. —KaiSavaree-Ruess
    • It is quite a contradiction to say that you do not want to be judged by the bad things that Student Focus has done in the past, yet you decided to run with that slate name to capitalize on the support it has built up over time. By using the name you are taking advantage of the reputation that you perceive as positive. You can't have it both ways. It is clear that you should be judged based on the actions of past slate members because you have decided to take advantage of the name recognition. You will be held responsible for past actions as a result. You should have run independent or on a new slate if you didn't want to accept the responsibility of the actions of your predecessors. —AdamBarr
      • I understand your point but I don't think you understand mine. Student Focus has done many good things in the past, leading to a base of support of which I am a part. I understand some people will not consider voting for me because of this. I was simply trying to appeal to the open-minded voters, asking them to vote for candidates instead of slates. If what slate you are on was as important as you make it sound, there would be no reason to distinguish yourself from other candidates because people would vote based solely on their opinion of your slate. I am not some cookie-cutter candidate who is the same as any other SF candidate. I have individual ideas and values, and I think most voters understand that. Personally, I have never voted all Student Focus because I decide who is right for the job, not who ran on the right slate. Therefore, I'm asking voters to look at ME and all other candidates individually, along with our slates. I think this is a fair request. —KaiSavaree-Ruess
        • Kai, this is where we can begin to discuss past policies, which is what I'd really like to see in these upcoming discussions. You say Focus has done many good things, but I am counting 1 really notable thing, and a bunch of questionable things. The campus book exchange was indeed a good thing for everyone. But some other things that aren't as positive may be the Mondavi Parking shuttle and the D1 initiative. The Mondavi Parking shuttle was implemented because the Focus President at the time said that she had evidence/data that stated that students wanted this, yet after running it for 6 months with some unknown cost, it was cancelled due to lack of usage. One has to wonder where she got her data from, how was it collected, and how much money this former Focus president wasted on this program. Then there is the D1 initiative, which has the potential to bring notoriety to UC Davis, but at a huge cost to the students. Now, have any of you current Focus people spoken to guys like Robert Baron, who have great ideas on alternate funding models for the D1 initiative which can lower student fees? Or is your promise to keep fees low taking a lower priority? You see, I dont really care about the people that cheated last quarter because they have been dealt with in some unknown manner already. But, all of the policies that you feel are great are fair game in my mind, mainly because they have the ability to last far longer than the people that create them. - Paul Amnuaypayoat

Does anyone else foresee a legal nightmare if focus implements the party patrol? Couldn't ASUCD be held responsible if there was a fight, alcohol poisoning, etc. ? —ArlenAbraham

  • I wouldn't forsee a legal nightmare if Student Focus were to adopt the efforts of Independent Candidate Avi Singh's bill that just passed through the Internal Affairs Commission to create a special committee to provide a better dialogue between the police and the students in Davis. I think that the solution lies in our communication and coordination with the police rather than patrols conducted by unqualified students. Kai, while I respect your intentions and admire you efforts to reform the party's reputation, I can only see a reasonable person viewing the reuse of a tainted brandname as a positive step as comparable to using a dirty tampon from month to month. Some things are disposable and I think the trash can isn't full just yet (I offer my comments with no intention of disrespect for any females reading my comments as I truly sympathize with the seriousness of your personal affairs and concurrently I humbly admit that I cannot relate to your experiences as well). Respectfully — RobertBaron
  • To address the legal issues associated with the party planning an management service: we at Student Focus has discussed the potential legal implications of running a service like this and realize the potential danger involved. We intend to work closely with the DPD, the City, and an advising legal council to ensure ASUCD is in no legal danger. We will exercise the utmost caution in carrying out our plan. —KaiSavaree-Ruess
    • You state that you intend on working with DPD, legal council, etc while creating this service. Were any of these groups consulted BEFORE this idea was put on the platform, or are you running on something that may not be at all feasible? —KimKunaniec
    • Ok, there may be a reduced legal danger, but what about the moral danger? What if some kid dies when the party police are present? Do you have any idea how hard the community is going to come down on ASUCD? Even if there's no legal action they can take, ASUCD is going to get reamed. Be careful, guys. —ArlenAbraham

2006-02-06 10:58:27   Half of these points require more money directly from ASUCD. Sure, I promised staplers, but I got someone else to pay for them. The one thing I am glad I never did in my campaign was say that I would cut taxes because it cannot be done in ASUCD. We have a budget crisis every year. Where is this money going to come from? "Why pay more" for Tipsy Taxi? Because gas costs money! This is the equivalent of a republican tax cut because the only people that will benefit are a certain demographic on campus comparable to the upper class, I guess. Also, Resolutions are constitutionally stated to be a majority vote. Also, an ASUCD Prosecutor sounds like trouble when we already have the Judicial Branch. I know that most people won't call y'all on it, but from an Independent's perspective I'm disappointed in this platform because I know it cannot effectively be done. I thought higher of the candidates than this. —RobRoy

  • On the issue of resolutions being stated as a majority vote in the constitution, I believe they would modify that with an amendment that they would submit for the fall 2006 elections, or winter 2007 elections. Its kinda the same way they implemented the Student Bill of Rights. I just hope they remember to actually write it into the constitution this time if it passes... - Paul Amnuaypayoat
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