What you need to know about the ASU student government Senate and Assembly

You may have heard about the Associated Students of ASU Senate and Assembly, but you may not know exactly what they do.

To fill you in before the March 26–27 ASASU election, we had a Q&A with Undergraduate Student Government leaders from ASU’s Downtown and Polytechnic campuses and from the Graduate and Professional Student Association. For undergraduates, this branch of student government is called the Senate. For graduate students, it’s the Assembly. About 100 people serve in these bodies, representing their academic colleges or filling at-large seats.

We spoke with Yasmin Alvarado, the Senate president of USG Downtown and a sophomore studying public service and public policy; Nich Weller, Assembly president for GPSA and a PhD candidate in sustainability; and Rebecca Trisko, Senate president of USG Poly and a senior studying elementary education with a focus in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

How did you get involved in the ASU Senate or Assembly?

Alvarado: I got involved the second week of my freshman year as an intern and soon moved up to [become] a senator and chair of a committee.

Weller: I got involved in the Assembly in April 2017 and have served as an Assembly member since. I chose to get involved as a way to give back to the ASU community that has given me so much. I'm also passionate about getting people involved in matters that impact them and saw this as an opportunity to do so for fellow graduate and professional students. It's also fun.

Trisko: I got involved the end of my sophomore year into my junior year. I became involved because a friend of mine mentioned that we had a Senate seat open for MLFTC (Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College) students and he thought I would be great. I decided to give it a try and I've loved being part of the organization ever since I started.

What do the ASU Senate and Assembly do and how do they impact students?

Alvarado: The Senate serves as a liaison between the administration and students. [Senators] represent their constituencies based on their concerns and needs. The various positions within the Senate are committee chair positions that are based on finances, government operations and external affairs.

Weller: [We have] legislative meetings every month, during which we vote on bills to improve GPSA's operations, allocate money toward different programs and efforts and take stances on issues facing graduate and professional students.

But that's only part of what Assembly members do. We all serve on various committees within GPSA, where members of GPSA's executive team, Assembly members and graduate and professional students at large get together to help develop and improve programs to help students, oversee our funding and travel programs and plan and execute events.

Trisko: A majority of our senators represent the different colleges on our campus, and they advocate for those students and their needs. Those senators table at specific locations across campus to reach their fellow college students and hear their comments and concerns, which they then bring to the Senate and we address it in any way we can. As an entire Senate we hear the comments and complaints from students across the entire campus. We work to make their lives better at ASU Poly.

The Senate positions consist of 11 senators, two for each college and three senators at large, a senate president and our senate clerk. We have three [committees] on our campus that include appropriations, which allocates funding to our different clubs; government operations, which deals with internal governing documents; and our university affairs, which works with different campus offices, such as parking and transit, housing and dining to better our campus with student feedback.

Why should students get involved?

Alvarado: Students should get involved because it is a great way to learn about the policy process and meet other leaders.

Weller: Students should get involved if they see an opportunity to build a better graduate and professional student experience at ASU. See an unmet need in your department? Work with us to identify ways to address it. Want to plan an event to raise awareness about an important issue or further professional development for students? We have funding for graduate student organizations to help run events in addition to the programming GPSA runs on its own.

How can students get involved?

Alvarado: Students can get involved in the Senate by contacting their senator or another member of their campus’s USG.

Weller: Every spring, graduate and professional students can run for a seat on the Assembly. You can vote on your representatives in upcoming elections on March 26 and 27.

Sometimes we have vacant seats on the Assembly as well — interested students can apply for these seats by emailing the Assembly president. We’re also developing a "fellows" program for students who want to work on one-off projects to improve the graduate student experience. All of our committees are also open to graduate and professional students interested in learning more about GPSA and helping with committee work.

Trisko: Students should get involved, not only in our organization but in any organization on campus, because it's their opportunity to make new friends, make a difference and explore their interests. With USG they can either run during election season for an open seat on our Senate or become an intern on our campus. Our interns shadow those within our organization to find out if we are the right fit for them.

Even if they can’t get involved, why should students pay attention to what the Senate and Assembly do?

Alvarado: The Senate votes on potential fee increases, advocates for students’ best interests at the Arizona Legislature and hosts events for students.

Weller: The Assembly sets priorities for GPSA as a whole, approves how around $1 million collected from student fees is used and helps improve the graduate student experience. The Assembly in some way is connected to GPSA's travel and research grants, advocacy efforts and concerns about professional development programming on campus. Graduate and professional students interacting with these efforts (and many others!) should be invested in what we do.

Trisko: Students should be invested in the work of our Senate because it directly impacts their lives on campus and the issues they may face in their day-to-day college lives. Our meetings are open to the public and they have the freedom to come in and discuss anything that they wish with our senate. This is a great way to directly receive feedback and solutions to any problem. If it weren’t for students who were invested and voiced their opinion to our Senate, many of our funded programs such as Lyft codes, the wellness cart or our free printing wouldn't exist for all students.

Editor’s note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.