With only three weeks until graduation, many students are wrapping up their years. Others, like juniors Betsy Henke, Andrew Lauck, Clark Kaericher and Mary Kerschner, are just starting theirs. Henke and her fellow Hoosiers began their terms as the IU Student Association executives at Thursday's inauguration ceremony. Henke now serves as president, Lauck serves as vice president of administration, Kaericher serves as vice president of congress and Kerschner serves as treasurer. \nWhile their yearlong term began only a few days ago, Henke said her team has already been working hard to get their year off to a good start. "I'm really excited," Henke said. "It's awesome to already see (the team) getting things going and taking the initiative to do it."\nThe new administration has already begun restructuring the organization, recruiting directors and committee members, talking to administrators, gaining advice and getting the team motivated.
'It's time to play \npresident'\nCurrently, Henke said the team is talking with organizations and administrators. She said, in an e-mail, that the team has attended Bloomington Faculty Council and Hoosiers for Higher Education meetings, among others. And she said they've been talking to the Athletics Department and Student Activities Board to bring campaign promises, such as Ruckus, to IU.\nThe team had a mini-retreat Friday to prepare directors and congress members "with the skills, resources and guidance of what their responsibilities entail," Henke said. "We want everyone to know how to draft proposals, have access to higher administrators or faculty across campus, become more familiar with what is going on around campus and how to go about acting upon it." \nThe hope is to get directors and members of congress involved now and not lose their interest during the summer.\nPart of serving as an IUSA executive includes being in Bloomington during the summer. Henke said she will be here for most of the summer, but is not sure of everyone else's plans. Because she will not be here all summer, she said she is declining the traditional stipend IUSA executives receive during the summer. She hopes to set it aside for something else. \n"I don't plan on taking it unless I am here the entire summer," she said. "It's just not right."\nShe said she wants to be here during the summer to familiarize herself with the administrators and get some projects \nrolling.\n"I'm pretty confident that if all four of us aren't here the entire summer, we're still going to be successful."
Restructuring\nHenke said her team decided to restructure IUSA. Currently, IUSA has four executives, one chief of staff, several congress members and a number of directors who serve under the chief of staff. She said her team is trying to make IUSA more functional by dissolving the chief of staff and creating three new positions: chief of external affairs, chief of internal affairs and chief of operations. \nHenke said adding these positions will create more accountability because the chiefs will be more focused and aware of their responsibilities. "A lot of times it seems people are like 'Oh, I have a great title (but don't fulfill their responsibilities),'" she said. "We found out what are the important areas and how can they better be refined and fine-tuned." \nShe said the team tried to remove the hierarchy of IUSA to make it more collaborative.\nUnder the chiefs, there are eight directors. Henke said the executive team has recommended directors, but the list has to be passed by congress. The team is planning to have congress meet before adjourning for the summer.
Committees\nWith the summer approaching, it is often difficult for IUSA to find people to serve on committees who will remain interested in serving in the fall. \nFormer IUSA president and junior Alex Shortle said it's important to get enthusiastic people on committees and to give committee members a reason to stick with their positions. \n"If you don't have them with a degree of buy-in, you're gonna be running alone all year," he said.\nHenke said her team tried to find people to serve on committees who are already interested in relevant issues. For instance, she said the students serving on the IU Health Center Advisory Committee are nursing majors who are already familiar with the terminology used by health center officials. \n"We tried to (pick) people with a genuine interest so they could be more dedicated and knowledgeable," she said.\nJust as with the director appointments, Henke said the team has created a list of committee appointees, but they have to be approved by congress. \nDean of Students Dick McKaig said Henke gave him the list earlier than any other IUSA team has in 35 years.\n"Usually I get that in September," he said.
Attendance\nAlthough the team has a list of students it wants to fill the committee positions, just because positions are filled doesn't mean the students in the positions will always be interested. In fact, IUSA often has a problem with retention of both committee members, directors and congress members. \nAdditionally, there were at least two congress meetings this semester during which \ncongress was unable to vote on resolutions because it didn't make quorum. Both times, there were resolutions to remove congressional representatives from office for tallying up too many absences. According to the IUSA bylaws, congress members are removed from office if they miss "three regularly scheduled congress meetings with proxy present for two of those meetings, or four regularly scheduled meetings with a proxy present." \nKaericher said he hopes to get Congress members enthused about their roles. \n"Make sure meetings are exciting," he said. "(Give representatives) a sense of responsibility."\nShortle said he wished there had been better engagement in congress this past year. Shortle, who is taking next year off to travel, said he hopes to return to IUSA the following year to help foster engagement among congressional members. He advises the new executives to make sure to find out what the congressional members are interested in so they'll remain enthusiastic all year.
Preparation\nHenke said Shortle advised her to delegate jobs.\n"I think he felt a lot of the burden of being everywhere for everything," she said. "(We've been working on) a lot more emphasis on other people attending things." \nShe said because she wants her team to be involved, she feels prepared to take office.\n"I feel really prepared because we have quite a few strong people behind me who are much more knowledgeable in some areas and that works out well," she said. "We complement each other." \nAssistant Dean of Students Steve Veldkamp said he thinks Hoosier is well-prepared to take office.\n"They have been meeting and planning since the election announcement," he said in an e-mail. "I admire their initiative and dedication. They not only have big plans for the office, they are coordinating the resources to help realize their goals." \nOn the other hand, Shortle said no one can truly be prepared to run IUSA.\n"You don't understand how to deal with bureaucracy (or) the relationship faculty has with administrators and administrators with trustees," he said. \nHowever, he noted that Henke has had a lot of experience running IUSA Aid, and she knows a lot of people.\n"She's very well-prepared," he said. "She'll do a heck of a job"
