A year ago, if you would have asked me about the student government here, the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming, ASUW, I would have responded with, “Who?” Yet over the past year, as I came to be the ASUW beat writer and I have followed what they do, I look back on myself in disappointment. I have found that ASUW has quite a bit of power behind it, and it can be used to improve, or harm, the students of UW just like any other form of government.
As I have worked and talked to students through my job at the Branding Iron, I have found out that I was not alone in my ignorance of ASUW. During the last ASUW election, only around 1,200 students out of the 10,000 registered students voted. I have resolved to do my best to educate the student body on ASUW and bring that number higher.
Currently, every semester we pay around $600 in mandatory student fees, and around $40 of that goes directly to ASUW. For a lot of students on campus, not all, this means that we are paying more to our student government than we are currently paying to the State or Federal Government.
According to the fiscal year budget for 2018, ASUW has over $800,000 dollars of our student fee money. Currently, ASUW is in the position where they can give a recommendation to the board of trustees changing the whole amount, the entire $600 a semester we must pay. Pending an approval to a proposed change to the University Regulations, ASUW might have sole authority on any recommendation to raise or lower the mandatory student fees.
Another reason you should care and pay attention to ASUW is that they are supposed to represent the student voice here on campus. The executive cabinet and the senate both have a lot of contact with the administration, staff and faculty of this university. We, as the student body, are responsible for electing them to represent us in these meetings.
The third reason is they do have a lot of power in deciding what happens on campus. Currently, there is a committee that was formed with the sole purpose to increase the safety on campus during the late hours of the day and the night. They actively work to find issues on campus where we can improve the safety during this time. Without ASUW we would not have this kind of voice working to improve our campus.
On the other hand, ASUW can do stuff you may not like. You still have recourse on what you can do. One is that you can either approach them yourselves, either through email or in person. Each senator has their email posted on the website, and there are office hours where you can go in and talk to members of ASUW on how they can improve. There is also the option of not voting for them during re-election or being responsible for finding out who will represent you when the time comes to vote.
The final reason is that you, every fee-paying student at the University of Wyoming, is a member of ASUW. You have the right to be on some of these committees, if not to speak up at the senate meetings or committee meetings. You also have the option to author a piece of legislation. There are both senators and executives available to help you write that legislation and introduce it.
I have the personal philosophy that if you did not vote, you are voting with the majority or whoever won that vote. If you want to see change in the world, it must start with you. You must act, even if it fails.
