The Board of Directors for CSUN’s Associated Students (AS) voted to pass a resolution on May 5 titled “Condemning Federal Actions from President Donald Trump and the Executive Branch. ” This resolution formally denounces the Trump administration’s executive orders and actions that target Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and other initiatives related to universities.

The resolution notes “the dismantling of public health and welfare systems that support basic needs,” “the termination of birthright citizenship” and “the dismantling of the Department of Education” as some of the harmful actions that they are condemning, along with several anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-DEI executive orders.

Although this does not cause immediate action to be taken, AS hopes that it will highlight these issues and open up a larger conversation about CSUN’s responsibility to uphold their mission statement of “enabling students to realize their educational goals through programs that foster academic competence, professional development, critical thinking and ethical citizenship in a democratic and interconnected world,” as stated in their resolution.

“I don’t know if it would happen, but I would love for the campus administration to kind of back us up on it and say that this is a really good piece of legislation that they agree with,” said AS Senator Isaac Gavino. “We’re kind of just showing the university that this is your mission. This is what you say you stand for. Look at all these things that are going against what you stand for. Are you going to stand with us against it, or are you not?”

AS is a nonpartisan organization, meaning they do not side with any political party or organization, but they felt it necessary to bring to light the impact these executive orders are having on issues that they view are not inherently political.

“A lot of these conversations and opinions are seemingly turning into political ideology that are really just masked bigotry and hatred,” said AS President Katie Karroum. “That’s a trend we cannot encourage because these are issues that affect all people, and they don’t need to be politicized. So we’re also trying to add a kind of humanity to that with this resolution.”

Karroum and Gavino began working on this resolution in early February, once they realized that the administration’s executive orders were not slowing down. The two began compiling a list, narrowing it down to the top orders directly affecting higher education.

According to Karroum, this resolution was also shared with many members of local government, CSUN organizations and the CSU Board of Trustees in an effort to spread the statement as far as possible.

“We’re a powerhouse in California, you know. We really need to be uniting with one another to be actively defending these things, and be unapologetic about it,” said Karroum.

The resolution also condemned actions taken by the executive branch to cut funding to institutions such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. It stated the administration has also threatened to revoke accreditation to universities that promote DEI, which would remove funding for Pell Grants or financial aid.

According to Karroum, CSUN is one of the state’s largest distributors of financial aid, with over 60% of students receiving Pell Grants. Because these funds are primarily state and federal-funded, AS has concerns over how cuts will impact the future of financial aid and CSUN’s funding. Karroum said she feels disheartened that this is impacting marginalized students.

“I think it’s really critical that we wrote this because I think that out of all the CSUs, we really do stand out as the one that serves the most marginalized students,” said Karroum. “And seemingly what the federal government is trying to do is remove the ability for these marginalized, underrepresented students to change their lives, change the generations of hard work that their family has put in to get their one child to go to higher ed.”

Despite these unprecedented actions taken by the current administration, AS wants students to know they are ready to stand up and be the voice for the student population. They hope students will be more involved in the conversation with CSUN going forward.

“They need to be bringing more ordinary students and student leaders to the conversation,” said Karroum, while discussing an apathetic approach some schools are taking to address funding cuts. “We really need to empathize with one another, and this is a time where our true connection and unity with one another needs to show.”

The resolution also released a new mission statement, created by Karroum and other AS members, to better represent AS’s current goals and values.

The statement reads, “For students, by students – Associated Students at California State University, Northridge serves as the collective voice of the student body in advocating for student needs through shared governance, fostering an inclusive campus community, and providing innovative social, recreational, educational and cultural programs and services that empower, engage and create a sense of belonging for all student.”