ASUN passes bill that encourages greater activism

The Association of Students of the University of Nebraska senate discussed diversity on campus at its Wednesday meeting on East Campus.

The ASUN Diversity Strategic Development Committee shared its agenda and purpose for the school year at the meeting.

ASUN DSDC Chair Justin Shilhanek, a junior Spanish and psychology major, spoke on behalf of the committee about Senate Bill 11, which is the Diversity Plan.

"Basically what (the bill does) is offer guidelines," he said at the meeting.

The bill encouraged collaboration as well as participation in events and activities of student groups that nurture diversity.

When the committee was created, Shilhanek said, it was required that the committee would create a bill like this.

"That way we have things we can be accountable for," he said.

The committee plans to adapt the bill every year, Shilhanek said.

"Right now we're conducting focus groups across campus," Shilhanek said.

These focus groups survey student organizations outside of ASUN. There were three specific questions the focus groups were interested in, Shilhanek said.

The committee was interested in the big events the organizations had planned, how the groups interacted with ASUN in previous years and how the groups interacted with other student groups.

This will allow the committee to then come up with a plan of action for addressing the diversity needs of the campus, Shilhanek said.

ASUN senator Justin Solomon, a junior family sciences major, asked Shilhanek if he would consider a motion to delay voting for the bill so the senators could read the bill closely.

"I would," Shilhanek said.

The senate then approved a motion to table the bill until the next meeting.

"Senate Bill 11 will come up under unfinished business at the next meeting," said Internal Vice President Brian Coburn, a senior biochemistry major.

Before its meeting, ASUN opened its East Campus office with a ribbon-cutting ceremony where the senators were able to mingle.

President Megan Collins, a senior business administration major, thanked people who were involved with getting the new ASUN office open during the speech, including Steven Waller, the dean of the college of agriculture science and natural resources.

"I've wanted ASUN to have an office out here for a long time," he said.

Waller said he wanted students on East Campus to interact with their student government on their campus.

"There is a large number of students on East Campus, and they deserve physical representation," Collins said in a brief speech before the ribbon cutting.

ASUN will share its new office with the college's student advisory board, which Collins said she was excited to partner with.

"My philosophy has always been one university, one campus," Waller said, "and the more things we can do to make that a reality, the better the students are served."

kimbuckley@dailynebraskan.com