ASUA officers deliver campus improvements

Sen. Gilbert Davidson

Senate Chairman Gilbert Davidson is serving a second term on the Undergraduate Senate.

During his campaign last spring, Davidson promised to improve road conditions, add more bike racks, push for Memorial Student Union renovations and expand Escort Services and the Speaker's Board.

Two of Davidson's goals to improve the campus can be seen by students walking across campus.

Al Tarcola, director of Facilities Management, said Davidson brought the idea of improving campus roads and utilizing the Senate to point out problem areas to him.

New bike racks have already been added on campus, Davidson said.

As chairman of the Student Union Advisory Council, Davidson has also played a role in decisions regarding the Student Union and its renovations.

The council's voting members consist of nine students, three faculty members and three staff members. The Student Union director, associate director and three assistant directors sit on the council as non-voting members.

The council created the Student Union constitution and bylaws and recommends building policies to the Union administration.

Mike Low, associate director of the Student Union, said Davidson has become very knowledgeable about Union issues.

"He's made a lot of contributions and he's learning how other student unions operate," Low said.

Expansion of ASUA's Escort Services and Speaker's Board is going to come with the revision of the ASUA bylaws, Davidson said.

"The Escort Service and Speaker's Board are at the forefront of the services we (ASUA) provide to students," he said.

Davidson said ASUA could increase the resources of the board, which brings educational speakers to the university, by working it in with other areas of campus, such as the University Activities Board and Centennial Hall.

Sen. Casey Cuny

Undergraduate Sen. Casey Cuny created a voter registration drive as part of his platform to increase student voter registration and awareness concerning the presidential election.

Voting On Issues Concerning Every Student united Pacific 10 Conference schools to register students to vote.

At the UA, VOICES complemented the Arizona Students' Association's campaign drive, said Berry Melfy, the UA's ASA director. Last fall, 4,149 UA students registered to vote, she said.

The goal for the future is to create a competition between the Pac-10 schools to give students a greater incentive to register, Cuny said.

"I discovered it was better to start out slow as a cooperative effort," he said.

Cuny said he was unable to improve campus safety by fulfilling his pledge of increasing the number of emergency "blue light" phones on campus because it was too costly.

Cuny's last campaign promise was to educate incoming students about ASUA.

Mindy McCollum, ASUA vice president of programs and services, initiated the effort last year by inviting an ASUA member to speak to incoming students during orientation, Cuny said.

"I'd like to get some ASUA coverage in the orientation packet, such as a map, a guide to becoming a student senate aid and services ASUA provides," Cuny said.

Sen. Chadd Garcia

One seat on the Senate is reserved for the chairman of the College Advisory Council. Therefore, Sen. Chadd Garcia, CAC chairman and a student in the College of Agriculture, did not campaign for the senate position.

Last semester, Garcia coordinated a barbecue in Phoenix for the College of Agriculture and invited professionals, faculty members and students in the college to attend.

"A large part of the agricultural faculty came. The barbecue can bring money back to the students in their colleges," Garcia said.

"It helps students make professional connections in the future," he said.

Garcia said he wanted to expand the program to all the colleges, but did not receive feedback from the colleges' developmental offices.

Sen. Lauren Sliger

After hearing students complain about advising, Undergraduate Sen. Lauren Sliger promised last spring to encourage all departments to focus on a four-year faculty mentoring program for students.

Sliger said she is working on the issue.

Another promise, which was similar to Cuny's, was to increase student body awareness of ASUA.

Sliger wrote a guest column in the Arizona Daily Wildcat last fall to fulfill this goal and said she wants to publish another column that discusses the Faculty Senate's core curriculum proposal.

Sliger also ran on the issue of implementing presentations in the residence halls to help clubs recruit members. Sliger said two forums took place in September - one in Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall and one in La Paz Residence Hall.