Logan Ramsey
News Editor
If you don’t know what the acronym ASISU stands for, you’re not alone. The President and Senators from the Associated Students of Idaho State University didn’t always know what it stood for either.
When Chris Nartker, Senator for the College of Pharmacy, first heard about ASISU, he thought it was some sort of alumni foundation.
Kyle Schultz, Senator for the College of Education, found ASISU to be more formal than he was used to with student government and, “very insightful when it comes to government affiliation and how things are run.”
“I thought it would be a lot more of me having to make and change things but it ended up being me supporting other people who want to make a change,” said Kate Allen, Senator of the College of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences.
One of ASISU’s main goals for this semester is to increase the student body’s awareness about their organization and what they offer ISU students.
“That’s the number one issue that’s facing ASISU right now, that there’s a lack of awareness,” said Camdon Kay, ASISU President.
Kay said that in his student government at Kuna High School, their jobs were to plan events and maybe do some self-motivated fundraising, but it’s not that way with ASISU.
“I didn’t realize how broad the scope of our budget is as ASISU,” Kay said. “We fund all of our line items, so it’s everything from the Bengal Theater to the newspaper.”
The budget comes from student activity fees, and Kay said that both he and senators take that fact with responsibility. “In turn, we serve students.”
Kay said that one of the student body’s greatest misunderstandings of ASISU is that they don’t know the full extent of their abilities.
He said that many students aren’t aware that they have a contingency fund they can give to anyone who may be throwing an event, at their discretion.
Not only that, but ASISU determines the budget for all student groups who fall under their umbrella.
Schultz said that ASISU is doing more now in the way of, “evaluating exactly why [student groups are] requesting these kinds of funds. What other avenues are they trying to get before we allocate these funds.” He said that in the past the group had been a rubber stamp, but it’s not that way anymore.
Allen thought that her job would be more hands-on before she started, but she found it’s really about supporting the student body.
“I thought it would be a lot more of me having to make and change things but it ended up being me supporting other people who want to make a change.”
The president and the senators want the student body to get more involved with elections and to seek help through the resources they have available.
One of Nartker’s goals as a senator is to get more candidates to run for his seat in the next elections, as he was the only candidate for the College of Pharmacy last year due to the position not being advertised well.
Schultz said he wants to, “Let people know ASISU is still around.”
Kay and the senators are working to make the ASISU office easier to find by adding raised lettering outside the hallway and are hoping to wrap the wall to, “make it pop.”
“We have a ton of great resources but students don’t know about them. They can’t utilize those resources if they’re unaware,” Kay said.
Schultz wanted the student body to know that they can contact senators at the ISU website, and that senators are required to spend an hour per week in the ASISU meeting room in order to help students.
“People think it’s a hard thing to come and ask us for help when it’s actually really easy,” Allen said. “You just have to get in contact.”
