The 107th session of the legislative branch of the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming held their inaugural session this Tuesday in the Union senate chambers.
The winners of this year’s ASUW elections officially started their duties earlier in the month, with Jason Wilkins elected president and John Houghton elected as vice president. This meeting was the first time many of them had publicly represented their various schools. New senators spoke about their goals for the coming year.
“I did not run on any specific platform because I am still new to the University, and I am unsure what it truly needs,” said Reese Romero, newly elected to represent the College of Engineering and Applied Science. “My primary goal during this administration is to listen to the needs of the students, and do my damnedest to satisfy those needs with the fullest content of my character.”
Romero is a non-traditional student, and said he aims to serve the students he represents with honor. He has been elected to serve as the sergeant-at-arms for the Senate as a whole, meaning that it will be his job to uphold the traditions and decorum of the meetings. He will preside over meetings alongside ASUW Vice President John Houghton, who is also new to his position.
While Houghton has served in various ASUW positions in the past, this year will be his first as Vice President. As vice president, it is his responsibility to conduct the Senate meetings, as well as to speak for the Senate as a whole. Presiding over the entire senate seems like a daunting task, but Houghton said he is prepared.
“First and foremost, I’m going to leave it up to the senators who are going to be legislating a lot of this stuff,” he said. “I’m really hoping they have some big ideas, because ASUW has such great potential and I’m really looking forward to the ideas they do bring forward.”
Tuesday’s meeting focused on continuing to implement policies passed by previous administrations. In particular, the Senate heard a report from John Burke, an architect with Mackey Mitchell, about the progress of the Union Visioning Study. The 2015 Student Senate championed this study, which aims to figure out how the Wyoming Union might be redesigned or remodeled to better utilize its space and better suit the needs of students.
“We want to make the Union into a campus living room, make it the friendliest place on campus,” said Burke. “We’re taking student’s ideas into consideration so that we can make a Union that is both modern and representative of the University of Wyoming.”
While any news about the shape the Union will take is a long way off, the Senate will continue to watch the process with a close eye. Vice President of Student Affairs Sean Blackburn spoke to the Senate about their responsibility to carry out these long-term projects.
“The Half-Acre gym renovation took ten years to be completed. That was ten different senates trying to accomplish their vision for what the school should look like,” said Blackburn. “When you have these long-term projects like this, it’s your duty to see them through, even if you’ll never see the results.”
The Senate does not have any major business before the end of the semester and all planned meetings have been cancelled to better facilitate the transition of senators and executives into their new roles. A full list of the new senators can be found at UWyo.edu/uw/news/2019/04/uw-students-elect-president,-senators.html.
