As Senator Joe Madsen introduced a resolution in support of ASUI lobbying for a statewide medical amnesty bill this spring, he said ASUI is now in the big leagues.
“We have a great team heading this. This is going to be big,” Madsen said. “I like how it”s stacked with facts.”
ASUI unanimously passed the resolution at the ASUI Senate meeting Wednesday with no discussion except for Madsen”s introduction and a correction to the language.
The resolution came in the wake of overwhelmingly positive responses to a medical amnesty poll that ASUI President Max Cowan said made him confident they are doing the right thing.
From here, the project is in the hands of ASUI Lobbyist Nate Fisher, who will draft a bill to lobby to the Idaho State Legislature this coming spring.
Following the formality of passing the resolution, ASUI leaders turned their focus to transparency in government.
Cowan announced his intent to find a better way to inform students on how ASUI spends student fees, possibly in the form of a magazine.
“I think it”s always difficult for students to understand where their student fees go,” he said. “We”re working on communicating that more effectively.”
Cowan said he is focusing on a high-quality paper format so it will be something students will want to keep for reference. He said he wants to use a combination of numbers, visuals and narratives to ensure the information is communicated well and in an interesting way.
Cowan said he is aiming for something more complex than how ASUI has communicated fee usage in the past. He said he wants to break down student fees into the things they are spent on and to compare them in relation to tuition.
“Part of it is that we have always done ourselves the disservice of trying to dumb it down and make it simpler than it is,” he said. “What I think we need to do is elevate students, trust that they can take in complex information and present it in an accurate and convenient way.”
During the communications section of the meeting, Pro-Tempore Kate Ricart, as acting vice president, asked the senators to give a brief overview of their work and progress.
Senator Rachael Miller announced she plans to talk to instructors about how they use Blackboard Learn and why some instructors do not post grades on the site. She said the project, which was part of Cowan and Vice President Stetson Holman”s campaign, is becoming more urgent as the drop deadline approaches.
“Come crunch time, you don”t know whether you have a D or you have an A,” she said. “If you don”t know what your grade is, you”re out of luck.”
She said she hopes to make it easier for instructors to post grades to the site and make those grades more accessible to students.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NishantRMohan