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Big plans are in progress in ASUU for this upcoming academic year.
Recently elected ASUU president Justin Spangler, vice president Madison Black and senior class president Florence Fernandez have all been laying out plans for what they hope to accomplish this year.
President Spangler’s Plans
iPads are currently stationed in the Union for students to register their cell phone numbers to sign up for electronic alerts for both discounts on campus and university events such as concerts. Spangler signed a contract with the company CityGro as a partner in this project.
“We’re trying to increase connectivity with ASUU and the student body, and this is one way that I think we’ll be able to do that,” he said.
In terms of connectivity, Spangler has other ideas he is looking to implement as well. He wants to start a new hashtag system, using #dearuofu, for students to tweet or instagram issues they see on campus.
“We’re going to compile these and divvy them out based on whichever department they apply to as a way of bringing a voice to student concerns and connecting students with their administration,” Spangler said.
He hopes this new system will help instigate positive changes and give more power to the student body.
Also in the works through ASUU is a new free tutoring center to be held on the second floor in the Francis C. Hoops seminar room in the Marriott Library. The tutoring center will be available for students from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday — Friday. Most tutors at the center will specialize in helping students with math and science.
Sustainability is also a large part of what Spangler plans on improving at the U, including greener vending machines and expanding the Recycle Rice-Eccles program to the Huntsman Center. Both of these projects are still in the works, but Spangler has high hopes for making the U a greener, more environmentally friendly university this year.
Vice President Black’s Plans
Black spends most of her time working to improve the general assembly within ASUU.
She hopes to steer the members of the general assembly to work better as a team and to reach out more to the needs of student groups and clubs on campus. She also plans to connect the assembly with other departments around the U whose administrators have not been involved with ASUU in the past.
“I really want to revamp [the assembly] and make sure that every month there will be people who are presenting relevant information about what is going on around campus throughout the school year,” she said.
For the first meeting, Black intends to have representatives from the U’s Commuter Services attend as a way of addressing the many growing problems about parking on campus.
Another plan of Black’s is to improve childcare services at the U. She wants to expand the services into the Marriott Library so students can drop their kids off before class.
Through programs like this, she hopes to increase not only accessibility to resources for students, but also the connection between students with offices on campus that many do not know about.
“This is a really big campus, and there are a lot of opportunities available,” Black said.
Senior Class President Fernandez’s Plans
This summer, Fernandez has been planning the U’s homecoming dance, which will take place on Sept. 26. She is working to change how the homecoming royalty system works, which she said has been proposed by the Alumni Association in the past.
“We are really trying to make the homecoming royalty application more inclusive,” Fernandez said.
In the past, there were six students who were elected into the homecoming court, but there was a hierarchy — a king, a queen and then the rest of the court. These students received scholarships depending on their position in the court. Now, instead of six students, the court will consist of five students who will each receive the same $1,000 scholarship.
Her inspiration came from other Pac-12 schools who have made similar changes. She said the changes, which no longer include gender-specific titles like ‘king’ and ‘queen,’ do not exclude LGBTQ+ students.
As senior class president, Fernandez is now the new director of the Campus Traditions Board, aimed at promoting U traditions and encouraging students to actively participate in these traditions.
In the spring, Fernandez plans to work on ideas for the senior class gift and the senior class link — an artifact that the senior class president at the U helps design as a way of reflecting on past years and linking them with what is accomplished this year.
The senior class gift has typically been a donation to a specific cause on campus. Last year the gift was a donation to ASUU Childcare.
“I’m really trying to have a lot of different conversations with different organizations on campus and see where ASUU could help,” she said.
Fernandez welcomes any suggestions from students about what they would like to see ASUU or the Campus Traditions Board accomplish this year. She said her overarching goal for this year is to enable students to enjoy the resources ASUU provides.
ASUU Going Global
One of the biggest projects ASUU has been working on this summer is partnering with the Asia Campus Student Council in building a student government at the U’s new satellite campus in South Korea. Spangler will be flying out to the international campus from Aug. 25 until Sept. 1 to help.
“I’m going to go over there and teach them about ASUU and student government,” Spangler said.
The ASUU administration wrote the South Korea campus’s student government constitution. And, in the spring, Black will be going out to the campus to assist in the student elections.
@katrinavastag
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