Name: Christian Holt
Position: President
Slate: SDSU 2020 Vision
Year: Senior
Major: Kinesiology
Why do you want to run for President?
“I didn’t come on to this campus wanting to be the Associated Students President or even Executive Vice President like when I ran last year. I would say my leadership within Associated Students this year, serving on the board of directors, is what really ignited my leadership and me wanting to pursue the position of president.
“Also, my upbringing within the cultural organizations on campus, as well as the residence halls. I’ve been a community assistant for three years. As well as stepping into spaces that I’m not familiar with like the Greek community. Talking with leaders encouraged me to run for A.S. president just because I know that I have been in those communities and serving those communities even if they’re not my own, and that I have gained the knowledge and experience that will make me the best fit for the position.”
What makes you qualified for this position?
“I’ve been a community assistant in the residence halls for three years, so I’ve dealt with students of all different backgrounds from sophomores to juniors, seniors, transfer students as well as graduate students because the populations of the residence halls have changed quite a bit over the years.
“I currently sit on the board of directors of Associated Students where I’m one of the voting student voices for Associated Students and I kind of oversee the organization and make sure it upholds its values and work on community projects with other campus leaders not just Associated Students. In that role, I made sure that I was close with the Student Diversity Commission and helping out where needed. One thing that we got done through that was the student leader mixer, which basically allowed cultural leaders to bridge the gap between cultural leaders and Associated Students. So, that was a really successful event. Cultural leaders were very happy they felt heard and they felt more connected to Associated Students.
“I currently sit on the Campus Fee Advisory Committee. So, I oversaw the alternative consultation process we just went through. I went out into the community letting students know these fees were coming up and to go to open forums and to come with as many questions as possible so that if they agreed with them they can advocate for them, and if they didn’t agree with them then they could say that as well. I didn’t hold my own bias until it was actual time for voting … my decision was no on both fees just because I think that student resources is a top priority. However, I don’t think that students should be paying for the mental health resources or for their cultural or identity centers. I think that the university should have exhausted their resources before putting the burden onto the students and that’s also one of the things I want to pursue as president.
“I sit on the Presidential Student Activities and Safety Task Force. On the task force we basically look at student organizations — many different types of organizations, including Greek life. We basically look at risk management and seeing how we can keep these organizations growing on campus in a more sustainable manner.
“Also, I’m the co-director of the Tijuana Home Build. We started that organization last year. I’ve been the co-director since last year. We basically bring students from many different organizations on-campus all together to build a home for a family in need. It’s one of the pieces of campus that really unites our campus community because we all are coming from different places and we do have that one common goal, and so I want to bring more of that.
“I’m also one of the founders and president of the Collegiate Black Caucus, which is an organization that my friends and I created to increase civic engagement within the black community as well as other communities. I’m a member of Rotaract of SDSU, and I think all of those qualifications allow me to have different perspectives, full dynamic perspectives on student life and bring those to this position.”
What would you like to change at SDSU?
“I think what I would like to change is that our campus community is really divided like students are in their own areas, and that’s why my top priority last year was to bridge a gap between represented and underrepresented communities, and it is the same priority again this year. The importance of that is when students are together in times of fees and tuition raises and etcetera, we are all able to come together and voice our opinions and combat those things from happening. But when we’re separate our voice is weaker. Not only that though. When you have a united campus community, you have increased school spirit. You come on to our campus and you feel at home. You want to come back to SDSU when you graduate. You’ll be an involved alumnus as well as you’ll feel that you’re voice is heard and you’ll be able to hold your leadership accountable because you’ll feel that your voice actually does hold weight, and I want students to feel like their voice actually does hold weight.”
What would you like to stay the same at SDSU?
“If we talk about campus, I think for instance, with our men’s basketball team our school spirit, in regards to sports, is really high. Since I’ve been here, we’ve always had winning sports. However, even though I want that school spirit to stay, I still want us to still grow and start including the women’s track team because they’ve been winning since I’ve been a freshman. Like they’ve been doing really good, but they don’t get the recognition, so maybe like highlighting those teams so that way we can increase our school spirit even more.
“In terms of Associated Students structure, I really like the way our Associated Students structure is on this campus. I feel like it gives student leaders the opportunity to focus on what their passion is and then bring those passions and go out into the community and then bring that back to our government structure, and it allows the board of directors to know everything that’s going on around campus. Then you’ll have the knowledge and perspective to really advocate for students.”
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
