ASUSU has big plans for rest of year
This year’s Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council has three main goals for its future, said ASUSU President Ben Riley.
These goals are to have at least 33 percent voter turnout in the upcoming ASUSU election, resolve the issue over the USU Student Recreation Center proposal and resolve the controversy over student government structure, Riley said.
In order to get more students to vote, ASUSU Executive Vice President Rex Hansen said various plans have been created by ASUSU.
According to Hansen, these plans include handing out “I voted” stickers, “Did you vote?” pins and “Vote!” shirts, giving away prizes for voters, talking to USU coaches to encourage their teams to vote, advertising with the Residence Hall Student Association, setting up feasible computers around campus as voting stations and holding presidential debates in both the Sunburst Lounge and the Hub.
“A good sign of whether we’ve done our job well is how voter turnout is and how many people we get to run for office,” Riley said.
According to Riley, there are nearly 70 people running for ASUSU Executive Council offices for the 2001-2002 school year.
In addition to good ASUSU election voter turnout, Riley said more visible, student-representing officers are needed.
“ASUSU elections completely affect students, even moreso than city mayor or governor elections,” Riley said. “ASUSU is more directly involved with fighting, rallying and lobbying for student funding and other student policies than city government is.”
And he said in the case of ASUSU, the choices are good ones.
“We’ve got good people running for office this year,” Riley said. “That’s good for USU.”
The SRC proposal could mean a major change for students, Hansen said.
He said ASUSU met with USU administrators in January to discuss the SRC, with little or no progress, and plans to continue to meet with them about it.
“We want to be thorough because it’s such a major change in student life,” Hansen said.
He said a potential fee for the SRC would mean a change for students, so ASUSU is working to find a balance between the costs and benefits of the center.
Hansen said ASUSU and USU administrators will continue to meet and talk about this.
The final goal of solving the problem of ASUSU structure relates to a years-long discussion over whether the way student government is designed is best for the student body.
Among the issues are questions of who should vote, what committees should exists and who should serve on them.
“More than anything, we want to put the issue of student government structure to bed,” Hansen said. “For 13 years, it’s been a controversy, so we want to end it,” he said.