Sven Alskog
News Editor
Much has been discussed and accomplished throughout the first month of the academic year for the new Associated Students of Idaho State University (ASISU) representatives.
Among the tasks crossed off the list of ASISU President Kyle Son and his senate include the appointment of new Chief of Staff Jordan Reed, new Chief Justice Valentin Garcia and Justices Svenja Tegtmeier, Chase Haage, Peter Ferrero and Britney Jacobs.
Most applicants applied for these positions in the spring, with Son then looking over the applications.
Once Son has candidates that he would like to see interviewed he turns the task over to the appointments and reviews committee led by College of Arts and Letters Senator Morgan Pitcock, now in his second year as committee chair.
“The president looks over applicants and tries to find a fit that he thinks would be best,” said Pitcock.
With Reed introduced for his role of chief of staff, the tasks ahead of him will be of utmost importance to a successful year for ASISU.
“What Jordan does is he takes care of the staff in [Son’s] cabinet,” said Pitcock. “He also works with the senate to make sure senators are doing their duties.”
These positions within ASISU allow a greater number of individuals to get involved in quality leadership experiences.
“Last year I ran for senate and I was actually a little upset that ASISU was very distant from the student body and not a lot of communication was going on between them and the students,” said Haage.
“[Former Health Sciences Senator] Tynan O’Neil told me that there were other ways to get involved with ASISU and that is why I joined the supreme court,” he added.
Haage, a musical education major from Grangeville, Idaho, hopes to work together with the executive, legislative and judicial branches to make some changes in how he and his fellow justices are utilized.
“The supreme court has always been, ‘if we need it then we will get involved.’ Personally, I don’t agree with that and I think that every person that is an officer should get involved,” said Haage. My goal is to change it from something where it is ‘if we need it we will use it’ to a branch that has regular duties and is to be used frequently.”
Also discussed within ASISU this month was the ISU Ambush, a 5K team mud run that was put on by the student organization for the second year.
Along with the mud run, Son has been working closely with human resources in an attempt to change the current wording in regards to how many hours a student employee can work on campus each week.
Currently students cannot go over 20 hours, while the new legislation would change that to allow for no more than 25, a difference of 10 hours of potential pay each bi-weekly pay period. Students who make minimum wage would have the ability to earn $72.50 more each paycheck due to this legislation.
Anyone with questions or ideas for ASISU can visit their offices located in room 215 of the Pond Student Union Building or email them at ude.usinull@usisa.
