Student group: Build dorms

The All University Student Association, an advisory committee to the board of trustees, has recommended efforts to increase student voting in state and local elections and that residential housing be considered for the IU regional campuses. \nThe AUSA is composed of student government leaders from IUB, IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis and the six regional campuses. Its primary duty consists of making recommendations to the trustees on issues relevant to students.\nAUSA members said residential housing at regional campuses will attract more international students while fostering diversity. It could also be key in distinguishing the regional campuses from Indiana's emerging community college system. \nRumblings about the development of on-campus living at IUPUI and the South Bend and Southeast regional campuses have been going on for some time, said AUSA president Andrew Takami, a senior at IU-Southeast. \n"Our mission is to let the trustees know that the student body presidents would very much appreciate it if they looked into this further so that these campuses can pursue campus housing," Takami said. \nCurrently, IUPUI has only one dorm, and South Bend has limited housing for athletes. The other five regional campuses provide no residential housing.\nNot every campus would benefit from housing, Takami said. But as the mission of many of the regional campuses changes, residential housing becomes a plausible need at these campuses. \nTakami said the regional campuses no longer exist only to serve their area but to help promote the overall economy of the state as well. \n"Their mission was originally to serve their specific region, but I think each university is starting to see that their mission is changing," he said. \nSenior Jackie Landess, student body president at IUPUI, explained the campuses housing problem. For the more than 27,000 students, only one residence hall exists, and it has been around since the early 1900s. Graduate, medical and international students along with athletes have all expressed support for on-campus housing, Landess said. \n"They're all basically on their own for housing and finding a roommate," Landess said. "There's a real need here for housing."\nStudent Trustee Sacha Willsey said the Kokomo and South Bend campuses have wanted residential housing for some time. \n"These campuses are growing and are very successful, and the students would like more diversity and international students," Willsey said. "You can't easily do that if you don't have housing."\nThe second resolution passed at the trustee meeting was a call for a student government-led campaign to increase student voting at the state and local levels. The political mobilization of students represents an enormous possibility for influencing government, AUSA members said. \n"If students are registered to vote they will send a message saying that they care and that they are participants in the civic process," Willsey said. \nWillsey said if students can be encouraged to go to the polls in large numbers, legislators will be more responsive to the student and University voice. Student voting could only lead to more support for higher education from the State House, she said. \nThe resolution was written as a response to the state recession and the Hoosiers for Higher Education, an alliance of business leaders and IU administrators lobbying for legislative commitment to education. HHE members underscored to Takami and the AUSA the importance of student voice in the lobbying process.\n"The members of the state house have to know that if they do not support higher education, there is going to be a cost associated with it," Takami said. "There are enough students that attend the universities that can say, 'if you don't support me and higher education, I'm not going to support your re-election.'"\nHow exactly the student governments plan on implementing the voting resolutions passed by AUSA will be left up to each campus. One option discussed was to include information about voter registration in orientation packets. \nThe resolution includes calls for an "increase in voter registration" and "voter registration drives" as well as an exhortation to students to "become involved in the political process and register to vote."\nThe AUSA resolutions are recommendations to the IU trustees and administrators. \n"It's a statement of intent and a statement of what the student body presidents have agreed to make a focus," Willsey said.