The Associated Students of ASU Council of Presidents has released its priorities for the 2022-2023 academic school year. The priorities are sustainability, tradition and engagement, academic experiences, student health and wellness and university resources.
The pillars were made with the input of students and faculty on campus. Each president from ASASU is responsible for a pillar and the goals that are part of it.
"These are important opportunities we have as student leaders to improve not only the well-being of students but the experience they have on all four campuses, as well," Evan Lis, the president of Undergraduate Student Government Downtown and a graduate student studying journalism said.
The presidents will work throughout the academic year to accomplish the goals listed under the priorities.
"Priorities are a long process," USG Polytechnic President Cecilia Alcantar-Chavez said. "It is a multi-month-long process, starting when you campaign, throughout the summer and into the first few weeks of the fall semester."
Sustainability
Sustainability focuses on sustainable education, behavior and transit. It also focuses on advancing sustainability locally and globally. The goal is to advance so students and faculty have a safe and clean environment.
Florian Schneider, the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association is the point person for this pillar.
This pillar will focus on improving shade and water access on campus while also adding more accessible recycling and compost stations.
Tradition and Engagement
Led by USG Tempe President Andrew Kalthoff, this pillar will focus on game day and graduation traditions at ASU. It will also work to include online students in traditions and provide resources to connect with other students, groups and faculty.
USG aims to expand community-based graduation events and work with online students to establish hybrid club experiences to better include them.
Academic Experiences
The academic experiences pillar prioritizes students' success and provides resources to excel in their studies. This priority will include increasing state funding and college camps to help transfer, freshmen and online students have a more seamless transition into ASU.
Alcantar-Chavez will oversee this pillar.
Student Health and Wellness
The student health and wellness priority will focus on students' safety. By working with various groups on campus to provide resources and educate students about health and safety, this priority will work to improve access to medication, resources and diet-friendly options.
The presidents will work to ensure that dining halls have alternative milk and easy access to nutritional information. They will also host workshops and provide training for faculty and staff on sexual assault prevention.
USG West President Ally Hughes will lead this pillar.
University Resources
This priority is led by Lis. It will focus on providing resources where the University cannot, such as during school breaks.
The pillar will work to address food insecurity through a student food pantry, compile resources for out-of-state students and translate ASU websites to Spanish.
"There are a lot challenges and issues to address, but these priorities are a way for us to set up a main workflow for ourselves for the year," said Kalthoff. "The pillars allow us to basically take our workflow and be able to put them down in a much more manageable palette for our student governments and hopefully for the general student body."
Edited by Reagan Priest, David Rodish and Kristen Apolline Castillo.
Reach the reporter at gmccomes@asu.edu and follow @gmccome1 on Twitter.
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Gillian Mccomeskey is a reporter on the Politics Desk. She has been reporting and producing news articles for 4 years. She has been published by 5 news stations.
