Last Tuesday, Ryan Park '05 won a run-off election against Christian Sanchez '05 to become the new Association of Amherst Students (AAS) president. Six hundred and fifty-five students voted in the election, with Park getting 331 ballots, 53 percent of the vote, and Sanchez receiving 289 ballots, constituting 46 percent of the vote. "I am incredibly excited to be elected president of the AAS," said Park. "I wanted to run for president because I sincerely want to spend my time on projects that will benefit the college."

Park plans to address many of the important issues he mentioned in this campaign. "Ryan and I have discussed his plans for the remainder of the semester, and it's clear that he will be taking a pro active approach to the job," said AAS Vice President Bob Razavi '03. One of these projects is the implementation of a campuswide forum between Campus Police and students. "One of the biggest problems on this campus right now is the relationship between Campus Police and the students," said Park. "I'm hoping to host an all-campus forum on this topic, inviting students, administrators and the police to enter into an open dialogue with each other on this subject."

"Ryan has already begun making headway in setting up a presidential forum on student-police relations in conjunction with Officer Ali Wicks-Lim and Campus Police," said Razavi.

In addition, Park wants expand The New York Times readership program, a project he has been working on with Allison Rung '05. Park and Razavi have also been trying to make direct deposit a reality for student employees.

Park and Razavi have also organized a free five-college concert at UMass featuring Grand Master Flash. Other ideas Park hopes to implement include getting mid-term study breaks at night in Valentine and putting together a CD featuring music by students and student groups.

Park also wants to focus on improving the effectiveness of the AAS, most notably its budgeting system. "The AAS is only effective as long as the individual initiative of its members remains strong. It is important to remember that this is still a year of transition into the new AAS from the old SGO. Senators and other members of the community are stepping up and trying to address what they believe to be the flaws in the current system," said Park. "I have faith that we can iron these things out and prove to the student body that the AAS is a great organization that can initiate and sustain original programming benefiting the entire school."

Park stressed that he is open to ideas from all students. "I will work hard to implement any ideas that come my way as well as those I come up with myself," said Park.

As Razavi noted, "He's very concerned with making the AAS more accountable to the voices of its constituents, perhaps the most challenging part of our jobs."