Most of Colorado State University’s students may have been on summer break for the past couple of months, but a certain group has remained hard at work: the Associated Students of Colorado State University.

ASCSU has been meeting biweekly over the summer, and members worked on planning future projects as well as meeting with leaders across campus, according to Alex Silverhart, vice president of ASCSU. 

“We understand that professors may not want to upload their syllabi, but students spend thousands of dollars on a single class. We believe students deserve more autonomy when choosing their classes.” -Alex Silverhart, ASCSU vice president

Planning of projects for the upcoming year involved a variety of topics, including health, academics and social events, according to Silverhart. One such project involving wellness is the hopeful introduction of health supply vending machines to campus with help from the CSU Health and Medical Center.

These proposed vending machines would contain discounted emergency contraceptives in addition to other over-the-counter medications for students, according to Silverhart. The goal would be to have these emergency contraceptives supplied through the CSU Health Network Pharmacy and to keep the price under $10. 

“The typical $50 price tags at local grocery and convenience stores is not realistic for students,” Silverhart wrote. “We also want to create a way for students to obtain Plan B (the contraceptive) without interaction with anyone else. It can be a very vulnerable purchase.”

On top of sexual health resources, ASCSU also has goals of bringing other wellness resources to Rams. ASCSU’s Director of Health Jorja Whyte has been working with a committee to get Narcan and EpiPens into every building on campus. 

Mental health efforts will include monthly tabling, according to Silverhart, as well as Whyte’s work toward getting embedded counseling into the LSC for better access to mental health resources. 

“To make (counseling resources) more accessible, the Health Network and I are hoping to have counselors stationed in different offices across the LSC,” Whyte wrote. This would include Student Diversity Programs and Services offices such as the Pride Resource Center and El Centro.

These counselors would be from the Health Network’s multicultural counseling program, Whyte added. 

One typical cause of student mental strife can be difficult classes. In order to help ease that stress, Silverhart said ASCSU Director of Academics Theo Reese has been working to bring a syllabus bank to CSU. This resource would allow for students to view class syllabi before registering for courses in order to avoid having too many difficult classes at one time.

Plans for this syllabus bank would include either professors uploading their own course syllabi or students uploading syllabi from their past classes, with a pilot version of the program hopefully available for spring registration, according to Silverhart. 

“We understand that professors may not want to upload their syllabi, but students spend thousands of dollars on a single class,” Silverhart wrote. “We believe students deserve more autonomy when choosing their classes.” 

In addition to the above efforts, ASCSU also has projects in the works for more student events to take place, including an old CSU tradition: Grill the Buffs.

Director of Traditions and Programs for ASCSU Meron Siyoum has been planning this year’s event for Sept. 15, the day before the CSU football game against the University of Colorado Boulder. Grill the Buffs will be an event to get students hyped for the Rocky Mountain Showdown, and there will be free buffalo burgers, speeches from the football and volleyball teams and appearances from both two-legged and four-legged CAM the Ram, according to Siyoum. 

“We are finally bringing back the tradition after a four-year hiatus because of COVID and not playing Boulder (in football) since 2019,” Siyoum wrote.

“I am working with the deputy director of traditions, Kaila Bryner, to create fun new events for the student body as well as maintain the traditions we all love,” Siyoum wrote. 

Reach Samy Gentle at news@collegian.com or on Twitter  @samy_gentle_.