Move off the rails, there’s a train coming through. Students’ Party has been formed through the collaborative efforts of members of the S.A.C. and S.U.N. parties. We do not believe that the current leaders of Associated Students represent all of their constituents. Student government should be open to all students on campus, allowing them to pursue whatever positive action they want – a government for the students.

Sustaining activism is the main objective of our party. We plan to hold monthly meetings open to all students. The purpose of these meetings is to provide a forum for students to socialize and talk about what their student groups are doing. An upcoming issue this quarter is a proposal to allocate a stipend to each member of A.S. Legislative Council. This is an action that we strongly oppose; we believe that the money would be better spent in a way that directly affects more students. We plan to do this through the creation of an executive committee on university outreach, where A.S. representatives would be working directly with groups that have done outreach. Monies that are left over will be reallocated to student groups, group projects and campus organizations. We are also working on expanding and improving the A.S. Business Services offered to students, such as A.S. Publications and A.S. Legal Resource Center. Business Services is the one branch of A.S. that generates money for all students. The only alternative way to generate funding is by asking students to give more money through fee increases.

More good times is the second plank in the platform. A student oversight committee to work with UCPD and IVFP will be created as an extension of the A.S. Safety Commission to ensure that police reports are consistent with the truth and that discrimination complaints are addressed. We are working with the president of the Interfraternity Council, Jason Everitt, to increase responsibility and cut the red tape from parties. Together, we intend to pursue funding for date-rape drink test strips for both fraternity and nonfraternity parties. These strips can be used to help prevent rape and sexual assault. We are opposed to policies such as parental notification but are pro alternative-event planning. We are currently drafting a plan to combat parental notification and are working through A.S. Finance Board to contribute to quality student social and cultural events. We want to see more student socials, such as barbecues before sports games and events in I.V. Free hammocks for students to borrow would be nice too. And, of course, parking on campus and in I.V. must remain free for students, including weekends and holidays such as Halloween.

The Party is open to all students. We are currently accepting resumes for students who are interested in a position on the legislative council. It does not matter if you are currently active in student groups; we are looking for students who are motivated and want to affect positive changes in the student community. No other party has its selection of candidates publicly stated to be open to all students. We will begin to conduct interviews this week. Send a resume with contact information to . More involvement, more progress, more good times.

Jared Renfro is a junior political science major. Cervin Morris, Felicia Cruz, Andrea Wells and Kristen Ditlevsen also contributed to this column.