ASUSU officers pass the torch to successors
The 2011-12 ASUSU executive council and academic senate were sworn in Friday at the ASUSU inauguration ceremony. The recently-instated president, Erik Mikkelsen, addressed what he meant in his campaign by “putting students first.”
“I’ve talked a lot about putting students first,” Mikkelsen said. “But what does it mean to put students first? Again, talking to (2010-11 president) Tyler (Tolson), one of the first things he told me is he says ‘I’m number three. So God is number one, the person in front of you number two, and I’m number three.'”
He said, “If we can keep that on our minds and recognize that we work for the students, they pay for us to do their work, if we can reach out to them and get their advice, get their input and do what they want done we’ll be successful this year.”
Mikkelsen said he learned from Tolson that success is measured by the extent to which one helps others to succeed.
After remarks from Tolson and Mikkelsen, the outgoing officers gave their successors gifts and final words of advice before they were sworn in.
Tolson said, “It is an honor and privilege to serve the students, the faculty, the staff, the administration here at Utah State University.”
He said on his first day as ASUSU president he sat down in his office and thought, “Holy crap. What am I doin’?”
He said he felt he could not fulfill the tasks of the ASUSU president, but said if one has a positive attitude they can achieve success.
Addressing the incoming officers, Tolson cited the example of The Beatles who performed on stage more than 1,200 times before they mastered the art of rock and roll and achieved fame. He said ASUSU officers have an opportunity to master working with people through the thousands of hours they will spend working with students. He encouraged the incoming officers to take advantage of the opportunity and believe they could make a difference.
Mikkelsen said to the outgoing officers, “On behalf of the incoming officers, thank you so much. We have learned so much from your examples.”
He said to the incoming officers, “We’ve had a lot of time to talk. We’ve set a lot of goals. We’ve tie-dyed shirts, so keep those tie-dyed shirts; remember those. Those are our special bond, ‘cause we’re colorful. We’re happy. We’re bright.”
Recently-instated executive vice president Kirsten Frank said, “Brent did a fantastic job as exec VP over the last year. He was a fantastic example to me, and gave me the opportunity to be his GRC Chair which opened up doors to so many fantastic opportunities. If it wasn’t for his dedication and friendship, there’s no way I’d be where I am today – as the new exec VP.”
New diversity vice president Brooke Evans said her biggest goal right now is to assemble a strong and diverse student body with a variety of ideas and backgrounds. She said she wants to represent the most amount of students possible in programming and decision-making, however she has only gotten a few applications for her council so far.
2011-12 student advocate Jason Russell said during the inauguration he thought about how excited he was for the upcoming year, but also about the great responsibility of serving as student advocate.
“The rest of the semester will continue to be a learning experience and I will finish organizing a reliable and diverse Student Voice committee,” Russell said, “one that will best represent the student population.”
“As for the coming year,” he said, “the challenge will be to find out what students’ concerns are and to make it even easier for students to ‘voice’ their concerns and to help make students feel comfortable enough to come and sit down and talk about it.”
Recently-instated athletics vice president Ryan Baylis said he wants to revolutionize the HURD.
“This next year we are going to be offering HURD members a lot more things than in the past, whether it be bringing more free food, to having bigger and better tailgate parties before sports,” he said.
He also said he also plans to fix the decibel meter in the Spectrum.
“I’ve already talked to plenty of people who say it can’t be done. But to me if the technology existed in the ‘80s to make it work, where the heck did it go? This might take some time but there will be a working decibel meter in the spectrum in the near future,” he said.
The inauguration ceremony was held at 6:30 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center in the Sunburst Lounge and was open to the public.
– robjepson@live.com