Bridging the third floor gap
Enthusiasm for the new year and exhaustion from a stressful first week back at school were the two emotions felt as Steve Palmer, president of Associated Students of Utah State University, called the first official executive council meeting to order yesterday.
The council discussed the purposes and intents of the Advisory Council and Student Relations committee in achieving ASUSU’s chief objective for the year: To eliminate the third floor gap which exists at Utah State.
“We want students to know who their representatives are and what we can do for them,” said Celestial Starr Bybee, Executive Vice President of ASUSU.
“We want people to feel they have a personal connection with ASUSU,” said Nollie Hawes, Public Relations Vice President.
“We hope to gather student input and see what it is that students feel we are lacking,” Palmer said.
ASUSU intends gather input through a non-voting advisory council which involves the executive council and 17 appointed members who have been selected at random from groups across campus.
“This will help eliminate the ‘third floor gap’ and make students get involved with legislation,” said Kristen Stokes, Family Life Senator.
Stokes said ASUSU will present proposed legislation to the Advisory Council and get their feedback before ASUSU conducts a final voting.
“This is an opportunity for members to individually tell ASUSU what they think about proposed legislation,” she said.
Another means of bridging the third floor gap is through the Student Relations committee whose purpose it is to “get [ASUSU] out talking to students,” Hawes said. “The main thing is for us to get out to students so they can know who we are,” she said.
The Student Relations committee intends to do this by organizing three tables around campus every Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about the purpose of ASUSU and have a chance to meet and interact with their representatives on a more personalized level. This also provides a unique occasion for ASUSU officers to hear about students opinions and concerns, Hawes said.
“We want to actively meet people and solicit comments from the students,” she said. Hawes hopes students will take advantage of the booths to relay their thoughts to ASUSU.
ASUSU also briefly touched on restructuring the student government and discussed the honor code.
“We are looking at where things are at and seeing where we can be better,” Bybee said. “We are really working on trying to enhance the quality of life for the students of [Utah State University].”
And the way to do that is to perfect student government through reconstruction, Bybee said.