The current ASSU Executive officers, computer science co-terminal student David Gobaud and Andy Parker \u201911, are roughly half-way through their term. Last spring, the Editorial Board gave its full endorsement to the former Gobaud\/de la Torre Executive slate, praising its \u201cbountiful platform\u201d and \u201cwell-researched and thoughtful proposals.\u201d Now, with the term half-over, it is time to see how well this Executive team has lived up to its campaign platform and proposals.<\/p>\n
Overall, the Executive team of Gobaud and Parker–and, until last quarter, Jay de la Torre as well–has been largely successful in delivering on its campaign promises. Gobaud especially has shown an extraordinary level of tenacity and commitment to student leadership, highlighted by his most recent work coordinating with other universities to raise relief funds for Haiti. Throughout its term, this team has led the way on a number of initiatives–some highly regarded and others less noticeable–that have exhibited significant dedication to issues both on campus and in the world at large.<\/p>\n
Engaging graduate students, utilizing technology in innovative ways and promoting sustainability have all been, in particular, major accomplishments of the Executive\u2019s first six months in office. In these areas, the Executive officers have completed nearly every bullet point of their platform; open and transparent government was a promise made and strongly delivered upon. Numerous town hall events with key administrators have been organized and broadcast. The ASSU book exchange and events calendar have also served to help democratize information.<\/p>\n
The graduate student community has been given considerable attention by this Executive, a marked improvement over previous administrations. The Executive cabinet currently includes numerous graduate students, as well as various positions meant solely to serve the graduate population. A town hall held this past summer brought several hundred constituents together with Provost John Etchemendy and his colleagues to discuss student life. Work has also been done to more actively incorporate the Graduate Student Council into the broader ASSU fabric, from small gestures such as inviting professional school presidents to meetings, to holding joint-council meetings and instituting election reform, which bring professional school voting dates in alignment with those of the greater campus.<\/p>\n
Some of the greatest progress made under the current Executive has been in the area of campus sustainability, which during the campaign was a central pillar of their platform. Tresidder and Old Union are moving closer to zero percent waste, while plans are currently in the works for a campus Sustainability Summit in spring quarter. The tray-less dining hall campaign and the green move-in and move-out programs are also commendable initiatives made by this Executive. The ASSU Green Store has also been expanding, selling over 20,000 recyclable cups since its opening. Comparing these initiatives to their sustainability goals during the campaign, the Executive has already made enormous strides in fulfilling their platform promises.<\/p>\n
One area of their platform that has been largely left incomplete concerns reforms to the Judicial Affairs process, specifically regarding the procedure for handling sexual assault cases on campus. While Gobaud has actively worked to initiate review and discussion in this area, real reform in Judicial Affairs must be made on the committee level. And at this time, unless major action is made across the different layers of the organization, it is entirely possible–and perhaps likely–that real change in Judicial Affairs will have to wait for another time and a different Executive.<\/p>\n
The Executive administration\u2019s commitment to fulfilling the platform of their campaign, together with the officers\u2019 dedication and ability to engage the student community, leaves the Editorial Board feeling very positively about our endorsement of the slate. Though the scandal of Jay de la Torre\u2019s resignation casts an unfortunate blemish on the Executive slate\u2019s term, the officers have nevertheless exhibited a strong ability to live up to their promises, even in the face of controversy. For this, the Editorial Board congratulates the ASSU Executive slate on a successful term half-finished.<\/p>\n
See tomorrow\u2019s Daily for the second part of our ASSU Executive Mid-Year Evaluation, in which we will examine the work still left to be done by this administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The current ASSU Executive officers, computer science co-terminal student David Gobaud and Andy Parker \u201911, are roughly half-way through their term. Last spring, the Editorial Board gave its full endorsement to the former Gobaud\/de la Torre Executive slate, praising its \u201cbountiful platform\u201d and \u201cwell-researched and thoughtful proposals.\u201d Now, with the term half-over, it is time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2719,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2719"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}