In order to better inform students, the Associated Students of the University of Utah plans to create a monthly newsletter designed to inform U students about the inner workings of their student body government.
The idea for a monthly newsletter came after ASUU Chief of Staff Heidi Spilker found a sample newsletter from the University of California.
“I think it’s important for students to know what ASUU is,” Spilker said.
ASUU Executive Assistant Jared Whitley hopes the newsletter will enable U students to better understand what services ASUU offers while also keeping them abreast on the organization’s latest events.
“In my mind, the most useful aspect will be the calendar of events,” Whitley said.
Whitley, who is in charge of putting the newsletter together, hopes to distribute the publication during Orientation week to reach students beginning Fall Semester. He also hopes to distribute it around campus throughout the school year.
“We don’t really know yet exactly where the newsletter will go, but we’re planning on distributing it in the Union, the LDS Institute and the Student Services Building,” he said.
ASUU will also make the newsletter available on its Web site, enhancing student accessibility to the information.
“I don’t think there’s any student government in the state that can compete with us,” Whitley said. He also said the newsletter will help students “know what ASUU can do.”
Though the printed newsletter will be a first for ASUU, the idea has been circulating among its members for some time, Spilker said.
ASUU Development Director Candice Rush hopes to fund the newsletter with outside sponsorship, rather than relying on student fees.
“I was curious to know where the funding for the newsletter would come from, and the idea of sponsors paying each month to support the newsletter just came to me from there,” she said.
Whitley hopes that the sponsorship arrangement will allow U students to use their student identification cards at more local businesses.
“ASUU already has [a few] alliances with local businesses where students can use their U discount cards, and hopefully this will just expand that arrangement,” Whitley said. “Since ASUU has never done something like this before, [the newsletter will] be a work in progress.”
In addition to keeping students informed on the latest events in ASUU, the newsletter will also include information on the ASUU Presenter’s Office and other entities that are aimed at student interests.
ASUU has not yet decided on a name for the publication and is accepting suggestions.