General education policies include changes to the GWAR requirement.
While developing the general education policy, the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement committee looked to remove the GWAR requirement, according to Associated Students Inc. Chief Academic Officer Emely Lopez.
The academic senate is currently reviewing and revising the GE policy. If passed, the GWAR requirement would not take into effect until subsequent academic years.
Lopez, who sits on the committee that reviews the policy, says the committee is looking into using the intensive writing general education class to fulfill the GWAR requirement.
“[This means] we would no longer need the GWAR exam, which you have to pay for [and] you have to take a Saturday off for it,” Lopez said.
Student government looks to provide more affordable housing options.
The city of Long Beach is looking to develop around 200 new affordable housing units in downtown, according to ASI President Genesis Jara. She met with Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia to talk about issues including student homelessness. Jara voiced that the affordable housing initiative is still not enough to address student homelessness.
“The thing is it’s just affordable housing, it’s not specifically affordable housing for students,” Jara said. “It’s not necessarily guaranteed for students, so my concern is that although it may help students, it may not as well.”
ASI Senate aims to increase transparency through recording student government meetings.
Senator-at-large Justin Contreras suggested livestreaming all of ASI student government meetings. Currently, student senate meetings are the only meetings filmed and posted on Facebook as part of a new pilot program under the organization’s communication department.
“Live streaming [offers] a lot more transparency, so individuals who can’t attend our meeting can understand what we’re talking about,” Contreras said.