Final 2011 Congress discusses reform, plans for next semester

In its final meeting of 2011, the IU Student Association Congress met Tuesday night with 27 of 48 members in attendance.

Because the Congress did not meet quorum, it could not vote on any resolutions. However, IUSA President Justin Kingsolver still delivered an executive report and followed with a discussion on the future direction of Congress.

Congress Change
After questioning why Congress has not been consistently well-attended this semester, Kingsolver facilitated discussion on how Congress can raise attendance or be changed to encourage greater numbers.

He first thanked the present members for their dedication during the semester.
 
“You guys have been real advocates for the student body,” he said. “You can definitely be proud of yourselves for the work you’ve done this semester. I really am thankful for all of your efforts.”

Congress members led discussion of how to improve Congress. Some suggestions simply tackled logistics of meetings, with recommendations to better survey members on agreeable meeting times and locations.

Other comments focused on the ideas Congress generates. The overriding theme was connection between Congress and campus as a whole. Members suggested creating an all-student survey that would gather student complaints and issues from the ground-up and inviting student leaders from across campus to occasionally speak at Congress.

A final area of reform centered on the actual effectiveness of Congress. Members pointed out that after resolutions leave Congress, they often don’t know the outcome of their work. Suggestions to remedy the problem included sending passed resolutions to the Bloomington Faculty Council and having student authors of resolutions present the legislation to the governing bodies that it concerns to create a more personal connection.

“If you guys are in this with us, I think we can really change this relationship,” Kingsolver said. “The next meeting will be a big test. Stay passionate.”

Executive Report
IUSA is planning to purchase 50 bikes at a cost of just less than $60,000 from SoBi, Social Bicycles. The rentable bikes, which will employ smart phone technology and built-in locks, will make their debut on campus after spring break. IUSA hopes to secure 600 paying subscribers to the program by the end of summer 2012.

As part of a semester challenge, interns in the Freshman Internship Program were divided into four teams and asked to develop an idea on how to improve IU. Four ideas were developed, ranging from installing lighting in dark spots on campus to creating a central “Ask IU” texting service with University Information Technology Services in the vein of ChaCha, a question-answering text company.

These plans will be further expanded upon by the interns next semester, with the eventual goal of presenting the idea to Congress and possibly requesting funding.
Kingsolver updated Congress on the progress of what has become the Indiana Lifeline Law, a product of Big Six’s medical amnesty platform, as well as the tax-free textbook program. He said the initiatives have both Democratic and Republican authors in both houses, and that IUSA will increase travel to Indianapolis to lobby for the causes in the coming months.