Q & A – Jesse Lauchner

Chris Kampfe

Q: What was the highlight of being Associated Students of CSU

president?

A: The highlights were really-in my eyes, and Katie’s and some

of my colleagues’-nailing so many of the issues on our

platform.

Q: What were the low points?

A: A low point was definitely the back injury (Lauchner injured

his back while doing laundry in November). Really, though, I think

the low point is realizing that you don’t have the time to do

everything as well or as perfectly as you would like to.

Q: Plans for summer and fall?

A: I graduate on May 15. I’m headed to Germany at the end of May

with a couple buddies I’ve been friends with since kindergarten.

When I come back I’m going to be working on transitioning the next

person in, and try and pass on some advice to them, then going into

the real world and applying for some jobs.

Q: Key issues for ASCSU next year?

A:. What we really uncovered this year is that the issue behind

the funding problem in the state of Colorado has these amendments

that were voted in by the citizens of Colorado that are now

essentially squeezing higher ed. out of the budget. And, really, it

will be up to the voters to make changes to those amendments.

Seventy percent of students on this campus are residents and have

parents that are residents. I think that that should be a main

focus, is educating students on why we have a problem with

funding.

Q: What piece of advice would you give to next year’s

president?

A: The best recommendation is to bridge some of those gaps

between ASCSU and the general student. You hear it every single

year in the elections that people don’t think ASCSU has done an

adequate job in connecting with the average student, or letting

them know what’s going on. There’s always area for improvement, and

I applaud anyone that will step up and try and make those strides.

That should be a focus, come up with something new, come up with

something big to keep students informed. Another big issue is the

continued success of RamRide. I think student fee’s have come into

the spotlight as well.

Q: What are the best campaign tactics in running for president

of ASCSU?

A: Do something big and visiable, stir up the water a little

bit, for good or for bad it didn’t really matter. Just get people

talking about ASCSU. The best advice now to move on is to continue

to look for those things. But the important thing is to be able to

back it up with some intelligible conversation or some good ideas

you can offer to people. Because really, none of that stuff meant

anything unless we believed in ourselves and what we had the

potential to do.

Q: How many times have you incorporated, “President of ASCSU” in

a pick-up line?

A: Well I’ve had a girlfriend the entire time I’ve been ASCSU

president. There have been some random times. The best example: The

day after the Rocky Mountain Showdown in September I went up and

climbed Long’s Peak and on the trail I ran into three separate

groups of people who knew who I was as ASCSU president. I’m sure it

would have been a pretty prime pick-up line. Actually, my friends

use it as a pick-up line for me more than I ever would. We’ll go

out and they’ll be like, “Do you know who he is?” And they come up

with something really stupid, like “he’s president of the school,”

or something really ridiculous like that. But what are friends good

for, right?

Lightning Round

Q: Big City Burrito or Chipotle?

A: Big City.

Q: Speakerboxxx or The Love Below?

A: Love Below.

Q: Fat Tire or Easy Street?

A: Can I say Sunshine? Actually, Easy Street.

Q: Steamboat or Vail?

A: Steamboat.

Q: Olsen Sisters or Hilton Sisters

A: Are the Olsen sisters 18 yet? We’ll play it safe with

Hilton.

Q: Waiting in line at Subway, or not waiting in line at Villa

Pizza?

A: Not waiting at Villa.

Q: KCSU or CTV?

A: KCSU

Q: Green or Gold?

A: Green.

Q: Crossword Puzzle or Campus Blotter?

A: Oh, Campus Blotter all the way.

Q: Ditka or a Hurricane?

A: A Hurricane.