“A lot of what I expect for this semester is that we carry over all of the discussions we’ve been having now and actually put together a list, whether it’s of improvements to be made or implementing the ideas we’ve come up with so far,” Sara Zaheer, IUSA chief of staff, said.
One event set for the spring semester is a student organizations conference planned for next January or February in conjunction with Student Life and Learning, Chief of Outreach Rebecca Yeakey said.
The goal is to create an environment where student leaders can more easily discuss with one another what is and isn’t working on campus as well as to increase IUSA’s visibility, Yeakey said.
“We’re hoping to kind of use the student ‘org’ conference as a spring board, in a way, for students to become more familiar with IUSA and also the work we do with one another,” Yeakey said.
IUSA executives will also continue work on a resolution asking for the publication of the cost of course material prior to registration, Zaheer said, adding that one meeting already occurred wherein this idea was discussed with Provost Lauren Robel.
Zaheer said Robel suggested asking professors to disclose this information before registration, as opposed to Congress’s suggestion of adding a question to online course evaluations for students to estimate how much they spent on the course.
Zaheer said IUSA will also try to spend up to half of the funds the organization has in reserve. Spending down these reserve funds was recommended by the Committee for Fee Review last spring after the CFR discovered IUSA had about $60,000 in reserve.
The CFR is the body which recommends how funds from the student activity fee are distributed. The IUSA budget was cut this year from the usual $100,000 to $60,000 with the expectation IUSA would spend some of its reserves.
The expectation is that once the reserves are gone, IUSA’s budget will be restored to $100,000.
Zaheer said IUSA wants to be careful spending the money, though, and ensure it’s not wasted.
As part of trying to spend this money, Zaheer mentioned the idea of co-sponsoring events with other student organizations on campus.
She said this can be complicated though, because if the event is receiving funds from Funding Board, contributing IUSA funds would double-dip into the student activity fee.
In contribution to spending goals, more money has been allocated to the marketing department as its members are working on rebranding IUSA, Zaheer said. Zaheer said she feels the entire brand of IUSA was damaged last spring after election issues caused the ticket with the most votes to be disqualified.
Additionally, many students do not know IUSA is their student government, which is addressed in new logos created this year that show the slogan, “Your Student Government,” Zaheer said.
Other efforts for next semester will be following up on safety issues and initiatives for diversity and inclusion, both of which IUSA initially explored through several student forums and surveys this semester.
Zaheer said one idea IUSA looks toward is the University of Iowa’s implementation of a required diversity course, which she said is intended to encourage constructive discourse on issues related to diversity.
“That’s something we might want to think about at least, and if University of Iowa has done it, we should be able to, too, if that’s something students here want,” Zaheer said.
Safety initiatives previously discussed include increasing lighting on campus, as well as working to add lighting requirements to city code for landlords of off-campus areas.
Safety and diversity have become issues important to students during the past few months given recent events on and off campus, IUSA President Anne Tinder said.
Although her ticket campaigned on a platform largely focused on mental health, Tinder said the IU Health Center and Counseling and Psychological Services has shown internal initiative to improve and expand their services, so IUSA shifted some of its focus to other issues.
“It’s more about putting our resources in places there are not resources,” Yeakey said. “It’s maximizing the impact IUSA can have.”
