ASUN wraps up fall semester with plans for better communication plans in spring

The fall semester went by quickly for the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska.

"It's weird how fast it's gone by already," said ASUN Internal Vice President Jeff Lopez, a senior chemical engineering major. "It brings a sense of urgency to the position, which I really appreciate."

Big issues came to the forefront during fall semester, and one of the biggest ones in Lopez's mind was communication.

Earlier in the semester, ASUN sent out a climate survey to students to gather how much they knew about ASUN. Lopez said many didn't know about ASUN or knew what ASUN did.

"We all knew ASUN didn't communicate and students didn't know what ASUN did," Lopez said. "That was not something that wasn't known, but it was made such a glaring issue. That hit home really hard."

Lopez sees communication as one of ASUN's biggest challenges during the next semester and beyond.

"I think we can all, ASUN as a whole, just need to do better at explaining what ASUN does and really putting ourselves out there," said ASUN President Lane Carr, a senior political science and history major. "We're good at solving problems. We haven't been doing a good enough job putting ourselves out to students."

Carr said senators, as well as the executive board, need to get out of the ASUN office to reach out to the 24,000 students on campus.

Another big issue was ASUN's representation of graduate students.

"I've been proud and honored to work with graduate students who, for the first time, are calling ASUN out on not necessarily representing them well," Carr said. "I'm guilty of it as a student body government leader and I haven't pursued or sought to get their perspective and understand some of their challenges."

ASUN's response to graduate students was to create the Graduate Student Task Force. Carr said he thinks it's going to lead into better integration of graduate students.

ASUN hosted a graduate student town hall meeting and from that, Carr said a lot of ideas are being looked at, such as putting in a graduate student ASUN chief of staff and looking at ways to give them transportation funding for conferences they attend.

"New relationships have been forged through that and it's brought us a lot closer to GSA (Graduate Student Association), so we can really be focusing on issues important to graduate students," Carr said.

ASUN sprang to action in late September when the "Say Yes 2 Better Rec Centers" campaign was not fully approved by Nebraska's Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education (CCPE).

The CCPE approved all aspects of the project except for the Outdoor Adventures Center. ASUN and the Government Liaison Committee worked together to speak to the Nebraska State Legislature's Executive Committee on Nov. 1.

"A partnership was forged with the Chancellor's Office and even the President's Office in Varner Hall with their advocates," Carr said. "They were able to team up with students and made sure what the students wanted was able to go through."

There are many projects still in the process for ASUN, such as a bereavement policy, the Nebraska State Student Association and the annual Big Event.

"It's exciting to hear all of the accomplishments and a lot of (projects) don't have tangible results yet," Carr said. "It's exciting just to see the potential for projects to get done and know we're in a place where, right away in January, we can get a lot of things done."

franniesprouls@dailynebraskan.com

Important accomplishments from fall semester:

1. 24-hour Study Lounge — The Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center was open for 24 hours during Dead Week and Finals Week of fall semester.

2. Huskers Fighting Hunger — Students were invited to attend a presentation by Mariana Chilton, director of Witnesses to Hunger, on child hunger, which was followed by breakout sessions.

3. "Say Yes 2 Better Rec Centers" — The Recreation Center campaign was approved by the Nebraska Legislature Executive Committee, despite the speed bump with the Coordinating Commission for Post-Secondary Education.