Voter registration, new clubs and lobby days
By Josh Hughes
As Western nears the end of fall quarter, the AS Board of Directors continues to work on bettering the campus community.
The board addressed multiple issues at their meeting on Wednesday, October 12, drawing special attention to the 3,059 registered voters that the voter registration drive pulled in. Bryce Hammer, Vice President (VP) for Governmental Affairs reported the numbers, claiming that there still could be more voters as everything gets processed.
Note from the Editor: As of October 31 the official number is 3,475 voters registered.
Additionally, VP for Activities Alex LaVallee stated that the activities council has two new on campus clubs, WWU Free The Toiletry and WWU Archery Club, also known as Nock Before Entering.
WWU Free The Toiletry is a new organization that plans to make menstruation products available to students for free at on-campus bathrooms. This platform has been used by certain private schools across the country, but Western would be one of the first public universities to adopt the practice. LaVallee said there could be some issues with funding, but VP for Student Life Wayne Rocque said he would be happy to work with the club to ensure success.
Meanwhile, the new archery club has been working closely with campus police to make sure their weapons will be stored safely when the club isn’t meeting.
In other board news, LaVallee also talked about how Western’s new YouTube series, “Upkeep,” is going. A weekly video that features LaVallee talking about all AS-related topics for the week, the second episode already has 140 views and 143 likes. Finally, he said that AS Productions have secured their first pop music production for the school year.
VP for Academic Affairs Erick Yanzon talked about meeting with the General University Requirements (GUR) Commission to discuss potential changes to the program. Some of the proposals that popped up included changing the standards for writing proficiency and providing a clearer understanding of diversity requirements.
Aleyda Cervantes, VP for Diversity, recently met with the Ethnic Student Center’s President’s Council, which is in the process of organizing lobby days for the winter. The ESC will send one person from Legislative Affairs and one from the President’s Council to go down to Olympia to lobby for their policies this coming winter. The group is also still working out a meeting with the Dean to discuss the upcoming Multicultural Center.
The board office is located in VU 504, and students are encouraged to stop by for any of the board members office hours with any questions, issues, or ideas.
