The new Associated Student of the University of Wyoming executive leaders do not think small.
They are not just looking to fill their predecessors shoes, but instead put on their own shoes and start running, Vice President Ricardo Lind-Gonzalez said. The VP, along with President Ahmed Balogun, have a slate of challenges they are seeking to tackle. Their plan includes using numbers and student support to decide what issues are pertinent. Through new avenues, including a new online social platform, the executive leaders said they gather an accurate measurement of what is important to students. Consequently, issues failing to garner enough student support will fall to the wayside.
WyoVocal, the online platform the executives lobbied for implementation, is designed for students to provide input for improving campus life, Balogun said. Users can post and view testimonials, then vote on and discuss whether a topic is important. He said posts receiving the most attention will be considered by committees that deal with each topic area.
“It’s kind of like a status update on Facebook, but you vote on topics,” Balogun said. “Then they can go in-depth and add anything they want to the prompt.”
Lind-Gonzales said he thought ASUW was prepared and capable of handling an increased workload. Depending on the issues that arise, he said, the student government is in capable hands.
“We have eight committees designed to handle different areas with the 30 senators that are thrown on there along with our seven executives, who are there to research and get things done,” he said.
Issues, which may have already fallen out of the student government’s agenda, include environmental issues. A first indicator for this shift is the abolishing of the eco-council last semester, a program former ASUW President Brett Kahler dubbed a “failure.”
“Eco-council was the substitute for a program that had existed prior and was cut,” Kahler said. “We’ve seen it twice come and go.”
Balogun said the eco-council was not a part of this year’s budget. The Director of Institutional Development, Robert West, has been in-part tasked with “spearheading” an effort to work with the Campus Sustainability Committee to “gauge if we need to bring back eco-council,” Balogun said.
The funding, the president said, is available, but student support has been lacking to justify the council’s existence. He said although discussions did come up on campus last semester, he would like to see students take the initiative.
Seth Michael Cude, president of UW’s Sustainability Club, said the eco-council needed change, but did not agree there is no student support for sustainability efforts on campus and was not happy to see the council be dissolved. Laramie lost its only glass-recycling program in the city in October 2013 and the Sustainability Club has been working to initiate a new program.
“Sustainability Club collected 1,200 signatures in support of glass recycling in Laramie over [the] last semester,” Cude said. “It’s a bad time to abandon the council’s efforts.”
The council, he said, lacked coherent structure, eliminated crucial positions and failed to meet regularly. He said while the members had great ideas and motivations, “concrete goals were never detailed in the few meetings that took place.”
“Eco [council] didn’t do anything. It just didn’t exist and they use that reasoning to dissolve it,” Cude said.
Balogan said that in his experience, students have not engaged the ASUW on the issue, but would like to see the program come back.
“Hopefully there’s student engagement so we can resubmit that budget request,” he said.
Numbers, the executives agreed, would give ASUW concrete direction. In order to get “hard rock” ideas for what students think needs improvement, he said tangible evidence was key. WyoVocal, he said, makes that determination streamlined for student government. Balogun did say, however, he hopes to address any issue important to any number of students.
“WyoVocal gives ASUW direction and brings the issue to the table,” he said.
“Hopefully no tangible issue will be over-looked.”
The president and VP said they had a “clear guiding vision” during their campaign and had done substantial work to accomplish their goals. Among their priorities have included working closely with IT to get WyoVocal on track, working with the Union to find storage spaces for student clubs, funding the Child Care Project, fundraising for the Student Memorial Project Plaza and marketing WyoCal, an online platform designed to connect students to the Laramie community.
Looking forward to challenges, the new student representatives said they hope to empower students. Balogun said, in his experience, many students are not aware they can influence ASUW.
“Certain groups know how to use ASUW, but the general populace should know it has an impact as well,” Balogun said.
While students are encouraged to stop by the office, call his office or send an email, he hopes WyoVocal will bridge the gap.
“There is always a struggle with the physical forum,” he said.
Balogun said he expects a fun year, but knows he learns from facing challenges. While both executives are hoping for the best, they are prepared for the worst.
“If everything is cruising by too easily this year, then we’re not doing it right,” Lind-Gonzalez said.
