By
Dan Cassino
Above the U of A Bookstore, past the chattering students around McDonald's, are the ASUA offices. Their situation is appropriate, in a way: their funding, for the most part, comes from the store below. Student dollars, then, are filtered up through the ceiling of the bookstore to a high vantage point where they can be distributed to the student body as a whole.
There's no reception desk at this entrance, no greeter, no directions to specific offices. Like the campus as a whole, it's a mishmash of offices and cubicles, brightly decorated and thrown wherever they seem to fit best. There's no unity of style in the decorations and postings - like the campus as a whole. There is simply the implication of a unity of purpose.
Most offices run and occupied by students are messes- organized chaos, even at the time of this visit, four o'clock on a Monday afternoon. It bears all the signs of a quiet, effective office. Fruit-colored computers sit invitingly at various work stations. Notes are posted on various surfaces. In one office, a calendar lists the activities of the new FACES project. Four events are scheduled for the month of September, one each Thursday. A roster written up on red consruction paper lists the people working on the FACES project: six of them, from President Timna Sites down to the webmaster, Joe Roth. In this, the largest work area in the offices, 15 ergonomic chairs wait for occupants. Only one is in use. The occupant of that station is working with the logo for the FACES program: an amalgamation of "ASUA" and "FACES." Absorbed in his work, he mutters a bit, but never looks up.
Moving farther backward into the offices is the legislative area. This, presumably, would be where the senators hold their office hours. No one seems to be in right now. It's possible, of course, that they are working in other areas of the office. More likely, however, they're eating lunch or having a snack. The sound of potato chips crunching is the the only noise above the hum of the computer equipment. The area isn't completely unoccupied, however; adjoining it is the copier area, which, as in any office, is a point of congregation. Oblivious to the stranger taking notes on a clipboard in their midst, two ASUA functionaries compare notes on the new fake ID of one. Soon, a third joins them and gives her opinion of the likelihood that the ID will pass by wary bartenders. Before too long, she renders her verdict: the ID should pass, but it's important to make sure it isn't siezed by a bartender. The chatting group moves away from the copier, their business done. A sign above the sprawling copy center reminds the workers to "relax."
Only the club offices seem busy with official work. Phone calls reminding various clubs to make sure to become recognized are being made at a rapid pace. There are many clubs to call and more that are hoping to gain recognition this year. Now, at the beginning of the year, contacting these clubs is an especially difficult task. Many of the numbers on file no longer work, or the contacts are no longer presidents of the clubs. Someone is always on duty here to make sure that any club that needs assistance can get it at any time during normal operating hours. Sophomore Brandon Peterson is manning the desk at this point, and explains that once the clubs get official recognition, ASUA will have all of the requisite information. He's only been working with ASUA for a week; in that time, he's had contact with represenatives from one club. He wasn't able to help them, though; they were seeking to start this semester, and the section he works in doesn't handle the establishment of clubs. He referred them, he explains, to the proper authority.
Other offices aren't as well-manned. The cubicle for the elections commission displays the office hours of the head to the commission, Joe Rogers. It is difficult not to wonder what exactly the elections office does when no election is approaching. No immediate way to solve this query exists, however. A sign hung over the cubicle proclaims "Joey's in." The emptiness undermines that claim.
This is not to say that no one is working. Executive Vice-President Erick Negri is in his office, at his computer, an open door displaying his willingness to receive any visitors. He doesn't feel that the quiet of the office says anything about the effectiveness of ASUA. Many of the important activities of ASUA don't get carried out on a day-to-day basis. At least in his office, meetings and conferences have long been scheduled, with most of the set-up occuring over the summer. He discusses his programs, and how he has begun implementing them. Unfailingly confident, he is certain that he will meet all of his campaign promises. Like all of the elected officials, he has established his goals for the semester. The question, though, is how they will be met. Only time will tell.
