The Associated Students of the University of Utah has made some dubious spending decisions in the past. Most of these stem from ill-conceived notions about what students want and what is best for the school. Thus we are subject to the whims of students playing grown-up with little to no accountability.
However, the law of averages dictates that once in a while, ASUU will spend its money in a responsible and beneficial way.
This was the case last month, when ASUU launched its new student group website, the establishment and upkeep of which will be taken out of its annual budget. The site allows any student group to establish a page that it can fill with pictures, group information, events and blog posts. More than 70 groups have already established pages in the three weeks since the site went up.
The site has a $4,000 set-up fee, and the annual licensing and use fee is $8,190.
ASUU has provided an excellent tool for student groups to gain support and membership. For our commuter campus, student involvement is a serious issue, and ASUU has taken a step in the right direction to help with the situation. More effective and concise than Facebook, the group pages provide information that will further student groups on campus.
“These students can come in and find an interesting look of what things they could possibly do,” said Chase Jardine, director of the Campus Relations Board for ASUU, which oversees all student groups at the U. “You wouldn’t believe how many calls we get from students looking for student groups,” he said.
Although Associate Dean of Students Lori McDonald had a serious impact upon the implementation of the site, it was only through the combined efforts of ASUU and McDonald that the website was able to get off the ground.
It seems there are simpler ways to reduce the U’s image as a commuter campus. We don’t necessarily need a multimillion dollar Universe Project. We don’t need administrators to slowly and deliberately destroy the greek system. And above all, we don’t need more parking lots.
Perhaps administrators could take a page out of ASUU’s booklet and instead of looking at the insanely expensive big picture, try to do what is possible and reasonable in these tough economic times.
