Newly appointed USGD senator Ernesto Hernandez is focused on tackling campus safety.
The freshman representative of ASU’s College of Public Service and Community Solutions wants students to feel safe and prepared for any crisis, he said.
“I knew that safety was a No. 1 priority for me going into college,” Hernandez said.
While Hernandez appreciates ASU’s police presence and the blue light emergency call boxes, he said he wants to add more safety measures in light of gun violence on university campuses.
“I think that more should be done and more action should be taken,” Hernandez said.
Students should have the option of taking on-campus courses to learn and earn certification in CPR, disaster preparedness, first aid and first response, Hernandez said. He is looking into the possibility of offering these courses for free to all ASU students.
“Every student, when they get admitted to the certain college pertaining to their major, they do pay a student fee,” Hernandez said. “And those student fees should be well-spent … going back to the community and the students.”
Hernandez is still fairly new to USGD, but he considers community service a hobby and said he has many ideas for the coming year.
“Next to my hobbies, I always put community service, because it’s just one of the things that is natural to me,” Hernandez said.
His decision to apply for the senator position stemmed from his involvement throughout high school, where he was president of seven clubs. Hernandez worked with the Los Angeles Police Department and is Community Emergency Response Team certified.
“I advocated for students’ needs and I ran an organization called the Teen Community Police Advisory Board with LAPD,” Hernandez said. “I had a lot of experience with helping a community and especially our students. I knew that I had a background with leadership and stuff like that, so I decided I should shoot for the senatorial position as well.”
Hernandez and fellow College of Public Service and Community Solutions Senator Michael Spadafore recently met with the college’s Associate Dean Cynthia Lietz to discuss usage of student funds to develop a scholarship for their students starting clubs and organizations. They have been working with their college council on ways to reevaluate the budget.
“There is a grant application that (students) will be able to fill out if they have an idea or an event that they want to do,” Hernandez said. “Based on the grant application and the circumstance, we may grant them $500 just to start up that organization or event that they want.”
Hernandez wants to find ways to use the money wisely and to give it back to the students.
“Everything that we are planning is going to take some time, but we’re setting the groundwork to make sure that it gets done,” Spadafore said.
Some of Hernandez and Spadafore’s plans include finding the college’s retention rate for students and fostering a more inclusive community. Hernandez said he is also interesting in promoting information to students, meeting constituents and hosting more events for students.
“(Hernandez) has a lot of things to do within expanding the college council to make sure it’s successful,” said Vice President of Policy Ryan Boyd. “But he’s also interested in expanding the outreach from USGD especially.”
USGD is currently working on several tasks, including signage for the Sandra Day O’Connor Law School and the University Center. Hernandez looks forward to working on citywide projects in conjunction with the city council and mayor’s office.
He said he believes every issue citywide affects downtown students, because they are “stakeholders with the city of Phoenix.”
Contact the reporter at brooke.faber@asu.edu.
