Exec council approves event, contest funding
ASUSU executive council approved $15,000 to go to executive vice president Brent Crosby on behalf of the end-of-year event committee at the council’s meeting, Wednesday.
The money is coming from the Capital and Support fund. This fund accumulates money not spent in the past years and any group on campus can submit a request for money, said programming vice president Tom Atwood. He said the money being spent on this event is not coming from this year’s student fees.
The committee, all its members being from the ASUSU executive council, is planning an end of year event open to the whole community. The evemt will be much larger than any other end-of-year celebration ASUSU has put on in the past, Crosby said.
“It will blow their minds,” said programming vice president Tom Atwood.
The committee has chosen a date – April 29 – for the event but details have not yet been released. The event will be free to students and the community. Crosby said the committee is being secretive to prevent miscommunication and to “amp up excitement among students.” More information will be released to various media outlets as the event draws nearer.
Aside from ASUSU, funding will come from the Bookstore, the Admissions Office, the HURD and programming. Some money will also be raised from booth rentals at the event, and the committee may draw on the Capital and Support fund.
The ASUSU executive council also informally approved a campus bike plan that will go into effect this coming spring and summer.
The USU Bike Plan intends to encourage bicyclists to use the roads more and to make campus safer for bikers and pedestrians, said Jordy Guth, planner and architect for facilities.
The plan also includes the construction of signs that will remind bicyclists where it is appropriate for them to slow down and yield to pedestrians. There will also be signs reminding bicyclists they are required to dismount their bikes on ramps.
Guth said there have been accidents this year involving bikers hitting pedestrians as well as drivers hitting bikers, and this plan aims to reduce that risk.
Most signs will be applied to the pavement to avoid sign pollution. The product they are considering is heat applied and does not need to be regularly repainted, which will reduce maintenance costs, Guth said.
The plan will be paid for by money allocated to facilities from the state and will not come from the ASUSU budget. Guth said she presented the plan to ASUSU to get “a general feel for how the students will respond to it.” The plan will not need to be formally approved by ASUSU.
“It may help clear up confusion as to the proper procedure for bikers and boarders and skaters for interacting with pedestrians,” Atwood said.
Another proposed bike-related project, the Commuter Mentoring Program, is being created by Aggie Blue Bikes and the Bike Pedestrian Advisory Committee of Logan City. The program will pair veteran bike-commuters with those who want to learn more about bike-commuting.
Other programs currently available are Aggie Blue Bikes, an organization on campus that loans bikes to students for free, and Car Free Fridays, a program created by the Wellness Center to encourage people to leave their cars at home once a week.
ASUSU also approved $2,500 to go to the organizers of Scribendi, USU’s creative writing contest and magazine.
Funds for the contest previously came from the arts and lectures budget, and most of the money went toward cash prizes for the winners. Atwood said this year, ASUSU wants to get more of the student body involved with Scribendi, which in past years has been more or less limited to the English department. The money ASUSU approved will be going mainly to publishing the magazine and distributing it throughout campus.
“PR majors, journalists, English majors, whenever they can get something published in a credible magazine, they can put it in their resumes,” he said.
– rouchelle.brockman@aggiemail.usu.edu