ASUCI Legislative Council discusses efforts for more student awareness.
The ASUCI Legislative Council held their first meeting of the school year last Tuesday, Oct. 2. Several issues were addressed at the meeting at the request of the council, the most pressing issue being student parking and shuttle services.
Increases in prices for parking permits and recent closures of the Newport shuttle route has caused some students to become disgruntled with University Transportation Services. President of the Associated Graduate Students, Justin Chung, advocated the creation of a student committee to work with the Transportation and Distribution Services (formerly known as Parking and Transportation) to allow discussion between students and faculty over the future of parking and permit prices.
The Council reacted favorably to the recommendation, but, after debating the issue, they decided not to vote to implement the idea. The council decided instead to plan for a meeting with Transportation and Distribution Services’ Ron Fleming to discuss the matter with him directly.
Another issue that was discussed was the relationship between the main student body and student government. ASUCI President Traci Ishigo, along with her colleagues, called for a closer relationship between students and ASUCI by increased communication between student government and the students.
The plan, as laid out by Ishigo, calls for increasing ASUCI’s use of social networking and surveys to better interact with students, as well as increasing ASUCI’s presence in campus life. Other members at the meeting proposed increasing the number of ASUCI activities in the near future.
ASUCI will attempt to interact more closely with students and has planned several events in which students can bring their concerns to ASUCI directly.
The Legislative Council will be holding an open house during Week 3 in which students are free to meet with the council and ask questions. Other events during the year will also explore opportunities for ASUCI to connect with the student body.
Students can bring their concerns about school life and student government to their school representative on the Legislative Council. However, many students do not utilize the opportunity, and the Council made it a focus to raise awareness and involvement.
Representative Kleshie Baisie, a third-year, is one of the council members who has used her position to increase involvement with her constituents. Baisie, the representative for the School of Biological Sciences, was recently re-elected in spring quarter. She stressed the importance of increasing communication with her constituents and why they should care about student government.
“We are a driving force behind a lot of stuff that happens … we have a lot of power and we seek to empower others,” Baisie said.
