The 51st senate of the Associated Students of Colorado State University convened on Wednesday, Sept. 15, for their third session of the semester to hear a presentation on facilities-related committees across CSU’s campus, introduce a bill resolution and hold elections for the Legislative Strategy Advisory Board.
ASCSU heard a presentation by Fred Haberecht, leader of landscape architecture, environmental graphics and master planning for CSU Facilities Management and Jessica Kramer, landscape architect and environmental graphic designer with Facilities Management.
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The presentation focused on explaining opportunities for involvement in various facilities-related committees across CSU. Committees included the Master Plan Committee, the Physical Development Committee and the Inclusive Physical and Virtual Campus Committee.
According to Haberecht, the Master Plan Committee is composed of several vice presidents, members of ASCSU and a standing member of the Office of the Provost and the vice president for University operations. The committee will make decisions about where buildings will go at CSU and what investments the University will prioritize.
“It’s about all campus infrastructure and buildings and the land’s highest, best use,” Haberecht said.
The Physical Development Committee includes deans, department heads, directors and members of ASCSU. This committee will look at tactical decisions across campus, including naming buildings and the bicycle network.
The Inclusive Physical and Virtual Campus Committee includes people from the Office of Inclusive Excellence, the Student Disability Center, Housing & Dining Services and some technology representatives.
This committee has worked on things such as adding all-gender restrooms and reflection rooms to campus. The committee will also do assessments of accessibility across campus.
“We were really charged with making sure that our campus feels welcoming and inclusive in our physical and our virtual environments,” Kramer said. “We worked really hard to pass the inclusive campus policy to set forth that yes, this is important to CSU.”
The presentation also included information on the University Public Art Committee, Pollinator Friendly Campus Committee, Tree Campus Higher Education program and the President’s Vision Zero Task Force.
Jasper Sloss and Anya Kaplan-Hartnett presented a resolution on implementing ranked-choice voting in ASCSU.
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“Ranked-choice voting is kind of a little more complex of a method than picking one candidate, but it offers more power back to the voters, and it encourages candidates to appeal to everyone instead of small portions,” Sloss said.
The resolution endorses research and exploration into ranked-choice voting and working with the Attica Voting group.
“What this resolution is intended to do is express support through ASCSU for the idea of more equitable voting reform and hopefully, in the future, look at what those options look like,” Sloss said. “And right now, we believe that’s rank(ed)-choice voting.”
ASCSU also held elections for the Legislative Strategy Advisory Board, which includes members of the executive and legislative branches of ASCSU.
“The point of this group is to figure out what we as the student body want to prioritize on a state level,” said Anya Kaplan-Hartnett, chief justice of the ASCSU Supreme Court.
University Affairs Committee Chairman Evan Welch and Senators Isaac Neivert, Bailey Shepherd, Sam Moccia and Ryan Pyfrom were nominated for the three available positions on the Legislative Strategy Advisory Board.
Senator Moccia was elected to the board with 13 votes, Senator Shepherd with nine votes and Chair Welch with three votes. Moccia, Shepherd and Welch were sworn in.
Piper Russell can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @PiperRussell10.
Editor’s Note: This article originally stated that Alayna Truxal presented a resolution on implementing ranked-choice voting, and has been updated to correctly say that Anya Kaplan-Hartnett presented the resolution. The article also originally attributed the quote, “The point of this group is to figure out what we as the student body want to prioritize on a state level,” to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Erin Freeman and has been updated to correctly attribute it to Anya Kaplan-Hartnett.
