WELCOME!
IT’S BEEN A CHALLENGING YEAR AT ASSOCIATED STUDENTS—A YEAR MARKED BY PROFOUND TRAGEDY, STRONG EMOTIONS, AND NEW BEGINNINGS.
As in past years, a great deal has been accomplished this year, including a substantial reworking of the AS Legal Code, which will have far reaching effects on the entire organization and is still being discussed.
Sadly, we lost three AS alumni this year, two former AS Presidents Michaele “Mickie” Chavez (74/75) and Cervin Morris (04/05), and Armand Vartanian former Legislative Council member and long time AS Publications student employee. We send our heartfelt condolences to all of their families and friends. To honor AS alumni who have passed, Flashback now has an In Memoriam tab under the Community tab on the Flashback homepage.
The UCSB community also mourned the deaths of fellow students Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, George Chen, Weihan “David” Wang, Katherine Cooper, Veronika Weiss, and Christopher Michaels-Martinez. Their murderer Elliot Rodger committed suicide after also injuring 14 other people and traumatizing many in the Isla Vista, campus, and Greek communities.
Students working through AS with campus administration, faculty, and community members immediately sprang into action to organize a candlelight vigil and a 22,000 strong memorial in Harder Stadium that were powerful tributes to the strength and resilience of the campus and Isla Vista communities. They also marked the beginning of a healing process that is ongoing. This process included many students sharing their thoughts and calls for IV to Stay Strong! on boards AS students and staff set up in front of the AS Pardall Center. It also included a moving video address to the graduating Class of 2014 and to the entire UCSB community from the White House delivered by Vice President Joseph Biden.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the sheriff’s officers who risked their lives to prevent a much larger tragedy and to everyone who has supported students through these difficult days.
It must also be said that by their actions UCSB students showed the world how at its core theirs is a community defined by compassion and deep caring.
THIS REPORT
The goal of this online annual report is to provide an overview of what students working through Associated Students accomplished during the year beginning July 1, 2013 and ending June 30, 2014.
UCSB Associated Students (AS) is a student run and fully student funded organization dedicated to serving students, the UCSB campus, and the larger community. Students participating in AS also engage national and international issues. This work is supported by a dedicated career staff.
Considering the wide range of initiatives, activities, events, etc. AS is involved in during any given year, producing a fully comprehensive report is a challenge. In fact, you are encouraged to send any information, text, photos, video, etc. you may have for inclusion using the form available by clicking Contact on this website. Please also send any suggestions you have for making this report as inclusive and useful as possible!
To help you give this some thought, check out the annual “Year in AS” slideshow produced by Assistant Director for Technology Sean Lieberman and the photo collages further down this page:
