Although most students are only beginning to settle into the school routine, the student government has been at work for months negotiating the tangle of challenges involved with converting campaign promises into action.
Budget posting overdue One initiative, posting the Associated Students of the University of Utah budget online, has already been delayed. ASUU President Tayler Clough had said earlier that the first online posting, summarizing expenditures for spring and early summer, would be available before the start of Fall Semester. They?ve pushed the date back, and the first posting is now expected Friday.
ASUU waited until summer ended before preparing the budget for online posting, which it will update again at the end of Fall Semester, said Rachel Rizzo, ASUU vice president.
Topping the list of priorities right now is a program that would have high school students begin working on a college application in ninth grade that they could submit upon graduating, Clough said. He said it?s a way for the U to tell the community, ?Hey, we do care about you going to college.?
Getting students started early will make applying easier, should the students choose to do so when the time comes, Clough and Rizzo said.
?I think this is a perfect time to start it too, because the statistics show that college attendance in Utah is down and declining,? Rizzo said, drawing a distinction between attendance and enrollment, acknowledging that the latter has been on the rise recently.
s, Clough said Gov. Gary Herbert has to back it first, as does the Utah Education Department and the high school and school district where the pilot program will be tested. After that, it heads to ASUU Assembly and Senate for a vote. Clough, under order of the College of Education Dean Michael Hardman, said he can?t name the school in question until it officially consents to the program.
?It should be done by the end of this month,? Clough said. ?If it takes longer than that, you should be smashing us over the head wondering what?s going on.?
Fee committee unfinished Also on the agenda is the proposed student fee committee, which Clough and Rizzo said will provide a breakdown of the fees as well as a sounding board for student opinions.
?During campaigning we found out that when we talked to students about student fees, (students said things) like, ?Well, why do I have to pay student fees? I never go to the football games, so why do I have to pay an athletic fee???? Rizzo said.
She said the committee plans to provide information to answer such questions.
The student fees won?t be dealt with until spring.
Another initiative, a student group management website, will enable student groups to create their own webpages to help them manage membership records and provide information on group activities. The measure, which is expected to cost $9,000 to initiate and $3,000 per year to maintain, has already cleared the Assembly and Senate and is expected to be running in a month, Rizzo said.