Referendum asks students to exercise their vote

The Student Referendum Committee is ready to unveil an arsenal of campaign tactics as students prepare to vote on increasing fees to support a Recreation Center.

Led by chair David Patterson, the committee has relied on flyers announcing an informational Web site but they plan to pull out all stops in the coming days.

A combination of billboards, brochures, lawn-staked signs and informational documents will be used to get the word out about the Nov. 16 and 17 election.

“We’ll be visiting classes to pass out flyers and buttons to alert as many students as possible to the election,” Associated Students Inc President Geoff Sakala. “We’ve even got a promotional video.”

University Media Services helped complete an “Exercise Your Vote” video that the committee will show at the Hive, the Pub and in the dining commons.

“We’re hoping to set up a display on the first floor of the University Union as well so that we can run the video on regular intervals,” Sakala said.

The Web site, www.csusreccenter.org, has garnered approximately 500 hits per day according to the site designer, Brendan McGuire, who serves as the Internet services consultant for ASI.

“We’ll be targeting the active groups and clubs on campus,” Patterson said.

Students will vote to increase fees over the next four years to a maximum of $99 per semester to pay for the completion of a recreation center on campus.

The project has been handed additional endorsement by the ASI Board of Directors, the University Union Board of Directors and the Faculty Senate. The University Student Fee Advisory Committee and President Gerth have both approved the proposal as well.

Though optimistic about the momentum being built, campaign promoters remain clear that the final decision has yet to be made. That awareness will temper how the final weeks campaign push plays out.

“This is not a yes or no campaign,” Sakala said. “We are simply trying to get the information out to the campus and whatever happens at the voting booth is up to them.”