Sarah Storelli is the ASI President. Storelli along with Kostas McDade and Nick Dindio will write the State of the Students column.
As Associated Students Inc. (ASI) President, my utmost priority is to serve the student body and be as transparent as possible in everything that ASI student government does. At the end of fall quarter, student government compiled a newsletter explaining our roles and goals, so you could understand how to utilize our services. Now as we approach the second half of the academic year, we feel it is important to continue increasing our efforts of transparency in as many ways as possible.
With that said, I, with internal members of student government — Chair of the Advocacy, Outreach and Accountability Ad Hoc Committee Kostas McDade and Secretary of Publicity & Outreach Nick Dindio — are going to have a monthly column updating you about the university, San Luis Obispo community and statewide issues, to keep you in the know.
ASI student government will build upon past student leaders’ efforts to better serve your needs and give you the ultimate college experience. Specifically, last year’s student leaders defined three over-arching goals for student government: advocacy, outreach and accountability (AOA). The Board of Directors created an Advocacy Ad Hoc Committee to implement regular outreach events such as “Cookie Campaigns” to gather student concerns.
At the end of the year, after recommendations to continue AOA this year, this year’s Board of Directors decided to improve it by including two additional tasks for the Ad Hoc Committee: outreach and accountability. These additions give student government a clear direction to hold ourselves and the university accountable and allow us to constantly transform our operations according to student needs and feedback. By the end of this academic year, the AOA Committee will offer more recommendations to the Board, in hopes to institutionalize this committee into our operations. This way, no matter who the future administrations are, student government will remain focused for years to come.
By now, you may be wondering who sits on the AOA Committee. It is comprised of seven members from the three branches of student government: the Board of Directors, the University Union Advisory Board and the Executive Cabinet. Each branch has two members, plus a chair. The design of the committee is to ensure interbranch collaboration efforts to accurately advocate on behalf of the student body.
AOA meets weekly to discuss strategies and ways to address the student body and gather constructive feedback from the students. Not only do they research past advocacy efforts on campus, but they also research advocacy efforts taking place on other California State University (CSU) campuses.
In order to hold Cal Poly’s student government members accountable, they comprise an evaluation at the end of each quarter to review the outreach and follow-up advocacy efforts of each branch and Student Government as a whole.
Student Government wants to increase its transparency, so continue to look for our upcoming articles in the months to follow. Some topics may include information regarding ASI’s involvement in the California State Student Association, the CSU Student Trustee Search, the Student Community Liaison Committee and campus issues such as diversity and sustainability.
Here at ASI, we’re only as great as the feedback we get from the students, and we welcome your comments in order to improve our services for you and future generations of Cal Poly. Also, be sure to “like” our Facebook page and get status updates about your ASI Student Government day in and day out.
We hope you had a great first week of classes, and GO MUSTANGS.