Joseph Boyden, ASUU’s student body president, described ASUU as “a vessel for whatever students want it to be.”
Boyden was elected last spring on a campaign built around connection, culture and safety. The Boyden ticket advocated for things like enhancing the social scene on campus, getting students discounts in the Salt Lake area and promoting safety enhancements.
This is how Boyden and his cabinet members Ty Yasuaki Nishikawa, vice president of university relations, and Paige Moon, vice president of student relations, have tried to make good on those promises.
Culture, Connection and Safety
This year, Boyden intends to work with companies to get students discounts around Salt Lake City and on campus.
“Currently, we’re trying to meet with the IT teams of different companies, like Costa Vida, Cafe Rio and stuff like that, to figure out how to make discounts accessible for students in a very simple way,” Nishikawa said.
Another goal Boyden has this term is to work more closely with campus safety and improve student well-being on campus. Work with campus safety will be directed through student feedback. Boyden said ASUU will be sending out polls for this feedback in the near future.
“We want to encompass making this campus more safe, but it had to do a lot with, specifically, crosswalks and parking,” Boyden said.
Boyden’s administration also hopes to help alleviate issues with parking.
“Parking is one of the big initiatives that we want to at least alleviate or help accomplish or get rid of parking tickets, see how we can kind of alleviate that pressure off the students,” Boyden said.
He said he’s advocated for more parking on campus. However, he wants students to know that campus planning and construction is a years-long process.
ASUU is also aiming to create a space on campus that students want to be in instead of just coming to class and then going home. Boyden said he wants to make the campus more “lively” and “make it a destination for students.”
Accessible Government
Boyden’s cabinet is also working on being more upfront and transparent with students. Boyden wants students to know what ASUU is and what its doing for them.
“This year, we are making sure students are aware of what gets done,” Boyden said. “Our job is to be a liaison between the student body and the administration of the university.”
Moon emphasized the role students play in forming ASUU’s plans.
“What we want doesn’t hold a lot of weight unless we have students to back up our opinions and our ideas,” Moon said. “So, getting the voice of the student body is the main purpose of why we’re here.”
There are over 100 students in ASUU, but Boyden said they are always looking for more student engagement.
“We’re one of the biggest student governments in the nation,” Boyden said. “We want people to get more involved. I would love for it to always be full of students working with their representatives, working with us, and asking questions and so on.”
Boyden said that he would like the ASUU office in the Union to be a space for students who aren’t employed by ASUU to come and work with student government.
“A big thing, too, is every student is a part of ASUU, so make sure that you take advantage of that. Stay up to date on all the events that we have going on” Boyden said. “Message us if you have certain things you want to see on campus because we are here to do what the students want to see.”
Recently, ASUU started posting suggestion boxes around campus. Boyden’s cabinet said they recently helped guide a nursing student with getting healthier snacks at the nursing school after they left a suggestion.
“Each college has different problems, and so being more of an upfront organization, having those boxes everywhere, students are able to put in their suggestions” Boyden said.
k.keith@dailyutahchronicle.com
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