Student Focus was one of two main political parties on campus before being replaced by the GO slate. (The other one being L.E.A.D..) when it comes to ASUCD elections. Fraternities and Sororities have been commonly associated with Student Focus candidates, and some go so far as to refer to Focus as the "greek slate." However, in recent elections, this has been the exception rather than the rule. They are also well known for their yellow glossy flyers. What causes the Party's focus on shiny yellow flyers is as unknown as the structure of its internal decision making apparatus. Chris Herold called the shots after the departure of Kalen Gallagher.
The Focus slate got a lot of flack about breaking the election rules during the elections of Fall 2004, and this contributed to the resignation of two of the winning senators. However, as is the case in every ASUCD election, this batch of candidates is different than the ones that came before them. In the last (Fall 2006 Election) Student focus supporters were removed from the dorms for unwanted solicitation.
Student Focus was instrumental in passing the Campus Expansion Initiative in 2003, which allowed UCD to Move to D1 (NCAA Division I athletics).
Student Focus grew from an alliance of Student Action and UNITE, which fell out of power when L.E.A.D. won the Winter 2000 ASUCD Executive Office election. All of the Student Focus elected officials from the Fall 2006 ASUCD election and the Winter 2007 ASUCD election (Molly Sundstrom, Alexandra Frick, Mara Harris, Cem Turhal, Eric Friedman) and former Student Focus Senator Natalia Farhad Motamed have reorganized as the GO slate. Student Focus also lost Commission Chair Pete Markevich when he became Independent and was succeeded by Christine Pham. Rumor has it that the Student Focus name will continue.
Party Statement
Student Focus is one of the two main political parties on campus. Student Focus brings attention back to students attending the University of California, Davis. With UCD being the largest and most diverse university within the UC system, Student Focus realizes the necessity of making sure that the campus is running smoothly and as efficiently as possible. Paying close attention to Unit activities, fiscal responsibility, student representation, campus pride and working with the city of Davis and campus facilities are key values of Student Focus.
We are here to represent YOU and make sure that YOU are equipped with every tool needed to maximize your experience here at UCD!
Winter 2008 Candidates
- Executive: Joseph Bleckman/Andrea Thomas
- Senate: Greg Webb*
- Greg is not officially running under Student Focus, but he is known as the last person in ASUCD to still rock the yellow on a regular basis. Many former Student Focus members are ecstatic that he is keeping the legacy alive.
- Joseph and Andrea sported the yellow during their run for exec office.
- Random people are spotted sporting yellow shirts, perhaps there will be a return of Focus someday.
- OMG StuFo is back!
Winter 2007 Candidates
- President: Spencer Higgins
- Vice-President: Tiny Sanders
- Senators:
- Molly Sundstrom (Elected)
- Pete Markevich
- Cem Turhal (Elected)
- Lorig Kalfayan
- Billy Durham
- James Adams
- Joseph Bleckman
- Greg Webb
- Winter 2007 Platform
Previous platforms and candidates
Student Focus II
Flyers promoting a Student Focus group have been circulating in the Education department's sector of campus, which coincides with the rumors of Student Focus' executives fleeing to the south campus following their fall from power in 2005.
See also Student Focus/Original.
2006-10-30 00:00:39 no one ever spoke to me about increasing the number of quad shows on campus...and i'm pretty sure things like that are under the Entertainment Council's jurisdiction. to say it bluntly, guys...i really think it is unwise to make promises that you have yet to even consider or discuss about with certain individuals who can make it happen. —EmilyTung
Well obviously they will have a chat with you once they are elected. —SteveOstrowski
Student Focus has also come under fire recently for proposed cuts to our student lobby efforts. -PaulHarms
- I actually talked with Pete Markevich about this while we were in his car on the way to SF for the Regents Meeting (for Lobby Corps). The way he explained the situation was that if the company we are receiving training from is successful at their job, then eventually we can reduce the amount we are paying them and become more and more self sufficient, teaching each other the skills they are currently teaching us. This seems pretty logical to me, and I hope that turns out to be their proposition. I would not support, say, money going from Lobby Corps to Aggie Pack. Then again, I can be unpopular like that. —MaxMikalonis
- On the flip side of that, it wouldn't make sence to keep using that firm if they weren't successful in boosting the Corps' skills. —JosephBleckman
- Good thing they talked to the Lobby Corps folks about this idea.... oh wait they didn't. It would also make sense if students didn't graduate every 4 years or move on to different stuff after a year or two. You can only build up to a certain amount of experience in a student organization before there is a completely new bunch of students. Having a long-term, very well experienced advisor, the private firm, for Lobby Corps will go a long way for not just Davis students but all UC students. However, the point is, they made it an issue without talking to the right people and now those people are mad. -James Schwab
- No offense to Pete, but I don't think he understands exactly what our lobby firm does for us. They do so much more for us than train us. Plus, the day we have nothing to learn from professional lobbyists is the day I'll support reducing our funding to our lobby contract. -PaulHarms
- I think it's a bit premature to state that Student Focus will cut anything unless they specifically say so on their platform objectives or stated so in a public forum or newspaper. —SteveOstrowski
- Where do you guys get this faulty information?... Seriously, rumors don't become fact once their published on the Wiki. We don't want to cut Lobby Corps. The comment in question, made by one of our senate candidates, had to deal more with our old lobbying through UCSA. He really just wants to work with lobby corps to make sure that their lobbying focus remains student oriented. —SpencerHiggins
Comments:
You must be logged in to comment on this page. Please log in.