ASUI Vice President Bryant Sitts introduced resolution S26-R01 to move the date of the spring ASUI elections and campaign period to occur during the first two weeks of April, at the senate meeting on Wednesday, March 4. The resolution passed, solidifying the schedule, with applications due by March 25. Positions up for election are ASUI President, ASUI Vice President, and multiple ASUI senators seats.
From Monday, March 30, through Wednesday, April 1, at 12 p.m., ASUI candidates will have an announcement period where they are only allowed to hang posters and post on social media. Beginning on April 1, those running will be able to campaign traditionally using tabling and handouts. The voting and campaigning period will end on Friday, April 10, at 5 pm. The results will be announced around 5:30 on the same day.
During the senate meeting on Feb. 18, Sitts spoke on the difficulty of the transition for him and ASUI President Seyi Arogundade when they began their role in fall 2025.
“The transition period was about three days to transfer the entire student body government over to new people. And quite frankly that was stressful and taxing on myself as well as the president,” Sitts said.
In a separate email sent to The Argonaut, Sitts further elaborated on his senate leadership transition objective.
“By having the future president and vice president informed of all the tasks they need to deal with on a day to day basis, it will allow for a greater jumpstart to the transition process, and enable them to get more accomplished sooner, in contrast to the candidates learning as they go.” Sitts wrote.
A piece of joint legislation was introduced to declare the commitment of Idaho’s four-year institutions to celebrate America 250 from April 13 to April 25. Senate Bill S26-R05 was created by the president sand vice presidents of multiple Idaho university student governments including UI, Boise State University, Lewis-Clark State College and Idaho State University. This will align with the statewide Idaho Service Challenge, promoting students inside of these schools to learn more about America’s civic history, and help communities through volunteering.
“I think it is a pretty significant thing to collectively come together as institutions across the state, to not only promote a really cool opportunity for students to get involved with civic engagement, but also to support America and its birthday,” said Sitts during the deliberation of the resolution.
A separate bill was passed to provide $500 in funding to the UI-specific event being held on April 15. This bill was written by the director of sustainability, Nicole Rice, and sponsored by Sen. Logan Romans. The event details are to be determined, but the goal of the event is to empower students to come up with projects that promote civic understanding.
Two club funding bills were passed at Wednesday meeting, awarding a total of $800. The UI Philosophy Club received $300 dollars for food and to improve student growth during meetings. The UI Quantitative Finance Club received $500 dollars for advertising, investing in student needs and for their upcoming Hack-a-Thon.
Other funding bills were introduced, including a $2,000 bill for the National Association for Music Education, for reimbursable hotel costs from their Feb. 4-7 trip. According to the president of NAfME, Justin Alder, 40 club members went to the Idaho NAftME convention in Nampa, Idaho, and had 11 hotel rooms for the students attending the event.
“We went and looked at the most recent funding board bylaws, and in Article 9, section B, subsection 2, it says that ASUI will refund up to $60 per room, per night for two people, with an extra $5 for each additional person,” said Alder in public forum. This bill was sent to the finance committee for review.
A resolution, S26-R02, was introduced celebrating the UI Mock Trial program which was re-introduced this year.
“I sponsored this resolution because I believe that the mock trial program is a good opportunity to improve multiple skills that are valid to them, such as public speaking skills and getting the university’s name out there,” said Sen. Emilee Guardado during deliberations. This resolution was moved to the policy and resolution committee for further discussion.
The other resolution, S26-R03, celebrates the UI Cheer Team for winning first place in the school song category of the National Cheer Championship.
“I just wanted to say how proud we all are, of the University of Idaho cheer for winning in this category. This is a huge accomplishment, and it is something that out entire campus should be celebrating,” said Sen. Envee Carter. This resolution was also sent to the policy and resolutions committee for deliberation.
ASUI Senate meetings are open to the public and are held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the Clearwater-Whitewater room of the ISUB.
Josie Adjanohoun can be reached at [email protected].