ASUI President-Elect Nate Fisher’s term hasn’t started yet, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t getting a head start on his platform.
Fisher said he is spearheading an effort to not only revitalize the Idaho Student Association, but to make it a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the hope that it can become a legitimate lobbying group in the future.
“It would be an organization that would advocate for higher education interests statewide,” Fisher said. “The program has had a history, and it’s existed before, but it’s kind of faltered in recent years for a number of reasons. Succession and sustainability was difficult from year to year, since it was initially headed by student government presidents. So when their term would end, so would the organization, because they didn’t necessarily have an action plan for future years.”
Fisher said he hopes to spend the rest of the semester, as well as his term as ASUI president, striving to give long-term legitimacy to the student advocacy group. According to him, though, it won’t be an overnight fix.
Extensive collaboration with the student body presidents of other universities is the first step, but is easier said than done, with their busy schedules and obligations, Fisher said. He said that since the presidents all gather at the Idaho State Board of Education meetings anyway, they’ve been using them as an opportunity to begin discussing the ISA.
Currently, Fisher said, they’re working on drafting a constitution. From there, the discussion will turn to institutional representation.
“We’re going to create a board with representatives from each institution,” Fisher said. “(The student body presidents) feel it necessary to provide framework and boundaries of what (the organization) will look like, and then let the representatives take over and let them run it. We chose to let the ISA be run by student representatives, rather than the student body presidents, thinking they might have more of a vested interest lying within their own school, rather than the broader spectrum of higher education, creating a kind of conflict of interests.”
Not only would Idaho’s public universities including UI, Boise State University and Idaho State University be included, but Idaho’s private universities such as the College of Idaho, and all community colleges. Fisher said finding representation from each institution is one of the biggest concerns right now.
Fisher is also looking for a student within ASUI who is passionate about getting the project off the ground. He said he is considering adding it onto an existing position within the executive board, such as the director of policy.
The next SBOE meeting is in June, and Fisher said that he hopes to continue to discuss an action plan with the other student body presidents then.
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected]