
Christine Wiabel
Changing the university’s domain name to CSUPueblo.edu, updates on technology issues and the visibility of the ASG on campus were topics for discussion at the Colorado State University-Pueblo Associated Students’ Government meeting on Oct. 31.
President Vanessa Emerson said she and several other members of the ASG attended a conference in Denver last week. Student government officials from colleges around Colorado met to discuss current legislation on higher education and share successes from their individual schools.
Sessions that were held included financial aid, student debt and how to help, school debt and fees, and how to strengthen the relationship between school administration and student government organizations.
Emerson said members proposed the creation of a board of presidents that would consist of student government presidents from all the four year colleges in Colorado. They would meet periodically to go over legislation and other issues pertaining to higher education in Colorado. She stressed that this is in the developmental stage and nothing concrete has been established.
Emerson also gave a short update on the childcare center issues. There will be a meeting next week where voting members of the childcare board will be decided, and topics such as waiting lists, scholarships for childcare and fees will be discussed.
Vice President Michael Weiner also attended the conference in Denver and said it was very helpful to network with student government officials from other schools. He received feedback from them on the proposed biweekly pay changes at CSU-Pueblo and found that most of the schools have biweekly pay schedules.
Weiner is still working to organize a housing committee, but the specifics are still being discussed. If formed, the housing committee would consist of resident advisors from dorms, officials from the housing department and ASG members. They would work together to improve on campus living areas and resolve problems.
Director of Information Technology Chalin Fernando said he is working to get programs updated and software licenses renewed. He said there are many software issues on campus and an overall need to upgrade systems to Windows 7 because some programs are not functioning properly in Windows XP.
The university is working on changing the domain name from colostate-pueblo.edu to CSUPueblo.edu, because the hyphen is not always a recognized symbol. There was some discussion about the cost of the change, which would affect websites, email addresses and university-related paperwork.
There was no information on who proposed or approved the change, which will take approximately five years to completely implement. The cost should be listed in the school budget, which is released in the spring.
Director of Public Relations Jordan Boehme followed up on a complaint from the CSU-Pueblo confessions page about the first-year advising program. She contacted Derek Lopez, director of first-year programs, who said the purpose of the program is to help first year students navigate registration in a timely manner.
While those with declared majors have specific advisers, undeclared students are advised alphabetically and placed in generic core classes. Boehme will contact the student and try to resolve the issue.
Boehme proposed some events to make the ASG more visible on campus. Ideas included revising the CSU-Pueblo YouTube channel to show students actively participating in meetings and activities on campus, a Rev 89 monthly ASG spot, and a meet-and-greet luncheon where students could come and meet ASG members.
Discover CSU-Pueblo day is Friday, Nov. 8. Boehme said the ASG would have a table set up to talk with prospective students. She hopes it will help new students get involved on campus, and she encouraged everyone to follow the ASG Facebook and Twitter pages to stay informed about what’s happening.
Speaker Pro Tem Michael Linsenman gave an update about the $15,000 grant given to CSU-Pueblo by U.S. Bank. Part of the funds will go toward purchasing and installing water-bottle-filling stations, which will dispense cold, filtered water. The stations are expected to decrease the amount of disposable water bottles students purchase. The stations are inexpensive, and a large portion of the grant money will be left over.
Next year’s ASG elections were discussed. Some suggestions to increase student voting were to increase the number of polling places on campus, give “I Voted” stickers or candy incentives, and publicize more actively. Increasing voting in the elections will be a focus next semester. ASG hopes to increase the number of students from the 400 it has been in the past.
The next meeting of the ASG will be Thursday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. in Room 201 in the OUC. Attendance is open for all to attend.
Reply • Nov 8, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Student,
I’m sure the CSU-Pueblo Today cannot possibly report on every ounce of content talked about at the ASG Senate meeting. Also, if you have an issue with what ASG is doing or want them to work on a particular issue go to the office in the OUC and talk to them or go to a meeting and see what actually happens and what they’re doing.
Student • Nov 4, 2013 at 8:51 am
Wow, water fountains and updates to their YouTube account? I guess that would be an improvement from trying to get everyone pissed off about parking and buying those ugly garbage-can bulletin things around campus.
Also, the people working for the university are state employees. They’re on the same pay periods as everyone else that has a state job, this has been addressed numerous times. They’re beating a dead horse.