The Associated Students of the University of Arizona, UA’s student governance body, reviewed club funding requests, met with one of the Arizona Board of Regents’ student regents and discussed new outreach initiatives at its Jan. 30 meeting.
ABOR Presentation
Lauren L’Ecuyer, a student in the UA’s James E. Rogers College of Law, presented the Arizona Board of Regents’ goals for the future of Arizona’s public universities.
L’Ecuyer, appointed as a student regent last year while a student at Northern Arizona University, is the only voting student member on the board. She highlighted increasing freshmen retention rates, undergraduate and graduate enrollment and six-year graduation rates as key goals for the regents. The regents also aim to provide more affordable and accessible education for all Arizona students.
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In line with this, the regents are lobbying the Arizona state legislature to shift the university funding model to a 50-50 funding model by 2022. This model, proposed by the regents, would require the state to cover 50 percent of the cost of education for all Arizona students attending public universities.
“The regents think this model is reasonable,” L’Ecuyer said. “We think students would be more willing to pay for a college education if they know the state of Arizona is supporting them.”
To increase access to Arizona’s public universities, the regents are also creating a tri-university outreach program to recruit first-generation students by visiting high schools around the state, according to L’Ecuyer.
The Senate expressed support for the regents’ goals.
Club Funding
The Senate voted to approve over $27,000 in funding for campus clubs that was allocated by ASUA’s Appropriations Board at its last meeting.
With over 18 clubs receiving funding, including money for UA’s Mock Trial Club to travel to a national competition, this is the single biggest batch of funding the Senate has approved all year.
“A lot of money was asked for this week, but I think we were able to give a lot,” said Matthew Rein, ASUA executive vice president.
ASUA’s Appropriations Board has over $80,000 of funding remaining for ASUA-recognized campus clubs.
Next week, the Senate will vote on additional funding for UA’s Students for Sustainability organization to help put on its Earth Day events, register for a national conference and place additional composting bins and marketing material around campus.
According to Madeline Melichar, senator for the College of Engineering, this funding request provides ASUA the opportunity to fulfill its resolution committing to sustainability efforts on campus, which passed the Senate last semester.
“I think we would likely fund the tent and the compost bin and collaborate with the branding,” Melichar said. “It’s a really great way for us to get our name out there while promoting services.”
Since SFS is not a club but an ASUA organization, they already receive substantial funding from ASUA, which in the past has sparked opposition to their additional funding requests by certain senators.
Upcoming Election and Outreach
Tara Singleton, an at-large senator, asked the Senate to encourage students to run for an ASUA position. Rein reflected this sentiment.
“We want to encourage students all across campus to be a part of ASUA,” Rein said.
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Candidate packages are available at the ASUA offices on the third floor of the Student Union Memorial Center. Packets are due back by Feb. 18. Thanks to new election rules, candidates need fewer student signatures to meet the requirements for ASUA’s primary election on March 18 and 19. ASUA’s general election will be held March 25 and 26.
The Senate will also be hosting a food drive in February in support of Campus Pantry, a food bank on campus which provides food assistance to food-insecure students.
Check back to the Daily Wildcat next week for more coverage of the UA’s student government.
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