Winter 2010 Senator

jbgold@ucdavis.edu

Office Hours:

T/Th, 12-2pm

Justin Gold is a third year student double majoring in Political Science and Philosophy.

Platform Issues:

INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND AVAILABILITY OF UNITRANS AND TIPSY TAXI
One of ASUCD's biggest resource is our Unitrans buses. Despite the amount of money spent on buses, they are often overcrowded and come infrequently(and even more infrequently on nights and weekends, when students could use them the most.) I will work with Unitrans to see if these issues can be remedied.

Additionally, I will work to increase accessibility of Tipsy Taxi. My hope is that by extending the hours of operation, and increasing publicity, students will be able to better utilize this value resource.

PROVIDE BETTER LIGHTING AROUND CAMPUS
Walking home from the library late at night is a college rite of passage. Unfortunately, walking around campus at night at is a cause for concern as students don't feel safe wandering around a dimly lit campus. I would like to increase the lighting around campus at night, because students should always feel safe walking around the UC Davis campus.

MAKE STUDENTS AWARE OF THE RESOURCES ON CAMPUS
UC Davis has tons of resources available to students. Some valuable under utilized resources include peer tutoring, drop in essay tutoring, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Internship and Careers Center (ICC). I want to increase awareness about these services so students can take full advantage of their UC Davis education and experience. Students can be informed about these through seminars and informational sessions. It would be my goal to educate freshman about all the resources available so they can begin taking full advantage of all UC Davis has to offer.

CUT DOWN ON STUDENT EXPENSES BY BEING ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
There are two simple ways to do this:
First off, I hope to work with Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) to provide incentives for students who carpool or drive energy efficient cars .
Secondly, I want to provide a way for students to get cheaper textbooks and encourage professors not to fall into the trap of updating to a new edition of a textbook every year. There are several ways to do that, one is by expanding the book exchange, which is yet another great but underused resource on the UC Davis campus. Other possibilities that are worth investigating are working with Amazon and ULOOP to provide books at rock bottom prices for as many students as possible.

CREATE MORE TRANSPARENCY IN ASUCD
ASUCD is meant to serve the students. I want ASUCD Senate office hours to be publicized as well as frequent town hall style meetings where students can come and voice their concerns. Any senate candidate who says they have all the answers is wrong. No candidate, including myself, knows what the students want, unless they voice their opinions. I want to provide an open forum for students to be heard.