The Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate met with the Arizona Board of Regents’ Student Regent Felipe Garcia to hear more about the goals, initiatives and impact of ABOR.
According to Garcia, the main priorities of the board are supporting student mental health and wellbeing, civic engagement, connection with student governments and supporting student-serving programs.
Garcia is one of two student regents who serve on the board. Student Regents are appointed for 2 years and are considered a voting member their second year. The two student regents rotate between the three public universities ASU, NAU and UA.
“The Arizona Board of Regents votes to approve new majors and academic departments, setting tuition, and approving capital plans,” Garcia said. “They also allocate state funds and approve the presidents’ salaries.”
ABOR also promotes initiatives to advance educational attainment. Some of these initiatives include the Arizona College Application Campaign, FAFSA Peer Coach program and Arizona Decision Day to support high school seniors in their college application process.
Garcia also shared some metrics from the board. According to Garcia, there is an enrollment of about 230,000 students across all three universities, $1.6 billion in tax revenue from alumni and the value of pursuing an undergraduate university degree.
“People that have their bachelor’s degrees have 82% higher earnings than people with just their high school diploma,” Garcia said. Most research ranges between 65%-68% higher earnings, while the median is around 82-86%.
Garcia shared that ABOR’s most recent meeting highlighted issues like campus safety and wellbeing, as well as a new tri-university FAFSA Public Service Campaign in collaboration with student athletes across the three campuses.
ASUA Senate recapped some of their most recent budget appropriations for clubs on campus, allocating $39,770 to a variety of on campus clubs for their events throughout the year, according to the budget and appropriations committee.
The elections and policy committee shared that they are currently in the stage of editing and providing feedback on the election commissioner’s draft of the elections code.
W.A. Franke Honors College Senator Aparna Chandrasekar introduced a new subcommittee to the senate regarding student advocacy and identity. She highlighted some of the initiatives that the committee would engage in to help out of state and international students get to know the University of Arizona.
“Some initiatives we’d like to carry out are bi-weekly meetings with community groups on campus, hosting workshops with new international students and new out-of-state students to help them acclimate to Arizona,” Chandrasekar said.
College of Information Science Senator Humza Sheikh highlighted a new research initiative within his college. He plans to conduct research by major throughout the College of Information Science and measure factors like students’ happiness and amount of social interaction.
During President’s Privilege, Chief of Staff Marisol Marquez Perez recapped UA’s response to the Presidential Compact and updated the senators on student feedback on ASUA’s statement regarding the compact.
