Nearly 600 California Lutheran University students voted in the 2020 Associated Students of California Lutheran University Government Executive Cabinet election last Wednesday and Thursday, electing Josh Gatison, ASCLUG president, Garrett Wyatt, senate director and Alyssa Frausto, programs board director.

Voting took place through Blackboard, where according to a statement put out by ASCLUG, 570 Cal Lutheran students voted in the election, which represents just over 5% of the undergraduate student population.

Executive Cabinet and Senate handle legislation, club funding allocation, policies and programs, while Programs Board organizes ASCLUG sponsored events and activites.

The new cabinet members will be inaugurated this spring and will hold their positions in office until April 30, 2021. 

Candidate for ASCLUG President, Gatison, earned 60% of the vote, edging out opponent Karyme Lara Chagoya, who earned just over 38% of the vote. 

Gatison said that some of the goals he wants to achieve during his upcoming presidency are implementing more transparency and inclusion across campus, as well as better parking, lighting on campus and meal plans options.

“I plan on being an active president and heavily involved with the students and understanding what they want on campus,” Gatison said. “What makes me different is my connection with the students. I feel like I know so many students in all areas of campus and I want to fix problems large and small.”

Candidate for senate director, Garrett Wyatt ran unopposed and won with 89.7% of the vote. As senate director, Wyatt will oversee his fellow senators and their senate projects. 

“I plan to encourage senators to pursue projects that will have long lasting impacts on our Cal Lutheran campus, and to listen to their fellow students for what they would like to see done on campus,” Wyatt said. 

As a whole, senate and senators are in charge of addressing student body concerns, developing student-initiated legislation and policies and allocating funds for clubs and organizations on the Cal Lutheran campus. 

Wyatt said he also hopes to increase the ongoing relationships between ASCLUG and the wider Cal Lutheran student population as well as continuing  to increase transparency on campus. 

“It is extremely important to me that the university follows through on their commitment to diversity and inclusion and that they take action and not just talk about it,” Wyatt said. “Our campus is extremely inaccessible to those with disabilities, and I would like to see the administration to take notice of this and begin making changes to improve the accessibility of our campus and provide more support to students with disabilities. I would also like the administration to reevaluate how it handles Title IX proceedings and the people in charge of it.”

Candidate for programs board director, Frausto also ran unopposed and won with 88.4% of the vote. As the programs board director, Frausto will be in charge of programs for the undergraduate student body through ASCLUG sponsored events and activities such as dances, carnivals and food truck days.

Frausto said that her main goal as programs board director is to create better communication between ASCLUG executives and the student body so that the Programs Board is able to host events students want to see.

“As programs board director, I want to ensure that students feel comfortable enough talking to ASCLUG representatives. I want to make sure they know that their voice and opinion matters,” Frausto said. “The events students want matter to us. Their voice matters, and their opinion matters. Ultimately we’re here for the students and everything we do is for them.”

Frausto said she also wants to encourage more commuters to attend events on campus.

“I think by having more commuters attend events, [ASCLUG] would be able to create a more inclusive and connected community,” Frausto said. “Oftentimes commuters are left out of the loop and aren’t able to have their voices heard and I want to change that.”