Christy Wiabel
As the fall semester comes to a close, Michael Weiner, vice president of the Colorado State University-Pueblo Associated Students’ Government, revealed his thoughts on his accomplishments as a member of the ASG this year and plans that are in place for next year.
“The goals I set at the beginning of the semester included working with administration to effectively complete campus projects, upgrading my campus network to include more administrators and staff around campus that I can go to for advice or help with projects I am working on, and to advocate for student friendly changes through the committees that I sat on,” Weiner said.
Of the many projects Weiner has been involved in, the issue of biweekly pay for student workers has been one of the most important. He feels this will be a huge benefit for campus workers and has made this initiative a priority throughout the semester with great success.
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“The biweekly payroll project has been passed on to Henry Willauer (speaker of the ASG Senate) as we have now reached a more technical stage in the project as far as working out a few things with the payroll office before the change can be implemented,” Weiner said.
Another major project Weiner initiated this semester is the formation of the new Residence Hall Association.
“The Residence Hall Association is a very exciting organization that will be making changes for the coming school year. In the spring, I will become a full time member of the RHA and assist them in becoming a more prominent association on campus, working to help them transition to a new overall structure that will strengthen their ties to the ASG. It will create a more effective method of hearing student input and help in making changes within housing that better the overall experience of a student who resides on campus at CSUP,” he explained.
Weiner has been an active part of several committees this semester and feels he has worked hard to make sure he advocates on behalf of students.
As part of the Dining Services Advisory Committee, he helped to voice student opinions about what should be offered through dining services, how to treat students who use dining services, and how programs can be better implemented.
Weiner was an active member of the Search and Screen Committee that helped select the new dean of Student Life as well as several other major positions on campus.
“I made sure that all of the different students who made it clear they wanted input on the matter, had their voice heard when helping to choose finalists and discuss those candidates who were brought to campus,” Weiner said.
Weiner was also an involved member of the Student Fee Governing Board and the Facility Fee Committee.
As part of the Student Fee Governing Board, he questioned each proposal by campus offices that use the fees to make sure the expenditures would truly benefit students at the university. Likewise, on the Facility Fee Committee, he marketed a survey that allowed students to have a voice in how their facility fees are spent.
This past semester Weiner has attended numerous administrative meetings and conferences, hoping to have a positive impact on campus. Along with several other members of the CSU-Pueblo ASG, he attended a conference in Denver this past October that included student government officials from across the state. He was excited to report that a constitution has been drafted to form the Colorado Student Government Coalition, or CSGC.
The coalition would consist of a representative from every four-year school in Colorado and would meet throughout the school year to draft joint legislation to present to the Colorado Capitol on behalf of all students in higher education in the state of Colorado.
“This will be huge because it will create a voice for all of the students in the state of Colorado and will more than likely have a major impact at the state level of government,” Weiner said. “I have volunteered to serve as our representative and will be meeting with the group early next semester to begin the process of ratifying the constitution for the coalition.”
“I am excited to see what gets accomplished next semester. My only wish is that I could have had more time to dedicate to ASG, but I am happy to say that I have managed to get the ball rolling on a lot of positive change that will hopefully continue, not only next semester, but the following school year as well,” Weiner said.
Next semester, Weiner will continue in his position as vice president of the ASG. He plans to dedicate as much time as possible representing student interests and advocating for positive change at CSU-Pueblo.