Student Activist to Be Inaugurated

In October 1994, Vladimir Cerna sparked controversy with his admission that he had entered the country illegally after leaving his native El Salvador.

Now a legal resident, the Cal State Northridge undergraduate will be inaugurated as student body president on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old sociology and Chicano studies major says he’s grateful to have settled the issue of his residency and is eager to get to work.

“I want this to be the most active student government that this university has seen,” he said, explaining that the campus has been the victim of “dormant” student leaders over the past several years.

“A lot of students on the campus are not really sure of what Associated Students is,” he said, referring to the student government organization he will preside over until June 1. He said he hopes to graduate in the fall of 1997.

A CSUN student since 1991, Cerna and running mate Parag Vaish, 21, were elected to the post in April with 382 votes, a paltry figure on a campus that expects an enrollment of more than 26,000 this fall. Cerna’s goal? To increase student participation.

“I want to encourage students to vote, to run for office, to come to our meetings,” the activist said. “I want that kind of change.”

Cerna and Vaish will be inaugurated Tuesday in a ceremony at the University Student Union’s Grand Salon. The event will begin with a reception at 12:30 p.m. The inauguration ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. and a student senate meeting will follow at 2 p.m.

For more information, call (818) 677-2477.