Glenn Connelly / Assistant Photo Editor

“I’ve let you down,” Associated Students President James Poet said yesterday during a statement to the A.S. Council and in front of about 50 people at the weekly A.S. meeting.

Poet, who was arrested Friday on suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence and marijuana possession, opened the floor to comments from councilmembers, but said he would not be answering any questions about the incident.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss the matter any further,” Poet said, explaining that he has not yet entered a plea for the charges he faces.

Director of media relations and new media Greg Block said no decisions have been made yet about whether Poet will remain the A.S. president.

“We are still collecting information and no decisions will be made about that any time soon,” Block said.

The first councilmember to speak at the meeting said he was already embarrassed by past events at SDSU, and is now even more embarrassed.

Most of the other members, however, made comments of support toward Poet.

“It’s not how you fall down 8212; it’s how you get back up,” one councilmember said.

Ignacio Prado, the representative for the College of Arts and Letters, said Poet has been his personal motivation for being involved in student government.

“You’ve been very inspiring to me, personally, and I want you to continue to be our president,” Prado said.

Many other councilmembers added Poet was the reason why they joined or wanted to join student government.

“This is something that can happen to any San Diego State student or something that can happen on any college campus, but the trust I had in you as a student leader is gone for now,” one councilmember said, adding that she felt Poet would be able to quickly regain that trust.

Several students pointed out the many accomplishments made by A.S. over the past year under Poet’s leadership.

Many students also mentioned the tendency for college-age people to make mistakes.
“How many people here have never made a mistake?” one woman asked.

Another member of the council followed up her comment with the following statement:
“If man went through his life without ever making a mistake, he would go through life without ever learning anything,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the present, but I’m hopeful for the future.”

Poet expressed his intention to continue as the A.S. President saying, “I want nothing more than to continue to be your president.”

A.S. Executive Vice President Joy Salvatin said she did not want to comment about the incident during an interview prior to the meeting.

However, Salvatin later contacted The Daily Aztec and said, “I fully support our board. As was evident in the meeting, we are supporting James. He’s still my president.”

During a telephone interview Tuesday night, Poet said he hopes to one day be able to share his experience with other students, to hopefully deter them from engaging in the same activities. He added, “I’ve felt so horrible about this whole thing since the second it happened.”

“I cannot begin to express to this council and to SDSU how sorry I am for what happened,” Poet said yesterday at the meeting.