USU/SA goals for the year
by: Manda Perkins
Assistant news editor
With a new school year in front of them, the Utah State University Student Association have a chance to fulfill the promises made while campaigning for their elected positions.
With this year’s theme being, “Never Before,” USUSA President Doug Fiefia said members of the Executive Council have their separate goals, but collectively, “plan on having a year that has never happened before.”
Two major initiatives that will be pursued by the council are sexual assault prevention and awareness, a nationwide initiative, and college affordability.
“We have extensive game plans for each,” Fiefia said in an email to the Utah Statesman.
Plans for both initiatives are still in the works and Fiefia said he will release more details as they develop.
One of Fiefia’s personal goals for his presidency is to create a council of presidents and leaders from campus organizations to receive feedback and address the issues students encounter. He also plans to raise more money for scholarships.
Fiefia has also set up a sponsorship tier allowing outside businesses to sponsor USUSA as a way to fund initiatives, scholarships and USUSA events. He said, thus far, the initiative has been successful, raising $29,000. Businesses who elect to sponsor USUSA will be provided the occasional space in the Taggart Student Center for booths and tabeling.
“We worked really hard to change the TSC policy to allow for this,” Fiefia said. “The companies still have to keep TSC rules and guidelines but they are allowed through the USUSA Sponsorship Tier system to have a table in the TSC.”
Casey Saxton, student advocate vice president, said with his elected position he plans to ensure students are aware that they have an advocate in student government working to protect their interests. He plans to spearhead a “mini-marketing campaign,” using Twitter and other forms of social media to raise student awareness of the issues affecting them.
Saxton also plans to regularly publish a column in the Utah Statesman highlighting issues or questions raised by students and responses from USU faculty and staff addressing those concerns. He said he’s aware this tactic may make him a little less popular with some members of university staff, but addressing student issues and concerns is his main priority this term.
“I’m not going to be afraid to ask questions or question status quo because I think the first step to understanding an issue is understanding why it’s an issue,” he said. “It makes people uncomfortable when you’re asking questions, but they need to be asked.”
Saxton said he does not plan to pursue the campus-wide smoking ban that his former, Daryn Frischknecht, advocated for last year.
“I think there’s only a couple places on campus where it is an issue,” he said. “I’ve had several students approach me and they were upset that that was a possibility and, to be honest, it’s not a really big problem. Also, it’s not something that President Albrecht seems to openly support.”
Programming vice president Zoe Fairbairn said her goal for this year is to ensure students are aware of campus events, while planning events that would appeal to a wider variety of students.
“We plan to provide events that are relevant to non-traditional students, as we are aware that there hasn’t always been some in the past,” she said. “As an office, this is what we want to see. We want people to look back at the end of the year and know that we put our best efforts into making successful events happen.”
Fairbairn said she plans to accomplish this goal by evaluating student satisfaction through surveys, maintaining an open-door policy, budgeting appropriately and using past events and events held at other schools as benchmarks.
Whitney Fletcher, public relations director for the Executive Council, said her goal is to find the most effective way to inform students of events, clubs and programs. With the student association’s recent name change, Fletcher’s personal goal is to create a campus campaign highlighting the change, which includes a revamp of the USUSA website.
“I love USU and couldn’t ask for a better opportunity than being able to promote all of the incredible events we have to offer to our students,” Fletcher said in an email.
The other members of the Executive Council did not return requests for comment.
Twitter: @perkins_manda