ASUP Executive Board: President Khalid Osman, Vice President Grace Holmes, Secretary Joseph Rojo, Treasurer David Zabinski, and CPB Director Samantha van den Berg |
To all the fresh faces on campus, welcome! To all the refreshed faces, welcome back! Campus has been extremely quiet this past summer, but that all changed last Thursday with the arrival of the Class of 2019!
The beginning of the year is an exciting time on campus; you have the rekindling of old friendships and the formation of new ones all happening simultaneously. The ASUP Executive Board is thrilled to be back on campus, and all of us are especially excited to get to know new people! We believe the University of Portland is a special place with a uniquely strong community atmosphere. Unfortunately, ASUP is not always considered “in touch” with the campus atmosphere, and as such, our primary focus this year is creating positive changes to our own structure, our governing documents and how we interact with the greater student body. Like the saying goes,“Out with the old and in with the new.“
We believe upholding our commitment to students involves being responsive to all students. Feedback is a necessary part of everything that we do, therefore all feedback is encouraged! We are actively looking for more ways to be involved and present in the greater campus community. So PLEASE invite us to your next event!
The University is rapidly expanding, as is the campus infrastructure. We’ve got the beautiful new Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center, the new Pilot House come Fall Break and next year we are hopeful for a brand new residence hall. These additions absolutely meet the needs of the student community, but a growing community is never completely out of needs. This year we will begin conversations around a new student center. The conversation will require input from the students which it will be designed to serve. This is a great way to begin assessing the needs of diversity and inclusion on campus. What better way than to have a designated collaboration space? We can’t wait to hear your ideas!
Last year, we were inspired by the grassroots swell of support for mental health awareness, and we want to make sure this momentum continues into this school year. ASUP is absolutely committed to raising more awareness, and supporting all student groups who are actively pursuing awareness campaigns. Our resources are always available for use, and we are aiming to foster more change around the stigmas associated with mental health.
Finally, we realize everyone is yearning to know what we can do about the continuously rising cost of college. We are partnering with other student leaders at universities in the area to host tuition forums around this topic. Throughout the year there will be opportunities for students to be involved in these forums--stay tuned!
Whew! That was a lot of verbiage, but we are ecstatic about the upcoming year! Our office hours are posted on our ASUP Website (https://sites.up.edu/asup/), and in St. Mary’s. Come visit us - we might have a treat or two. Email (asup@up.edu), Facebook and Twitter are all great ways to contact us as well; we look forward to hearing from you, the Associated Students of the University of Portland!
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