Print Edition

Letter to the editor submissions

Have a strong opinion about something happening on campus or in Fort Collins? Want to respond to an article written on The Collegian? Write a Letter to the Editor by following the guidelines here.

This week in ASCSU: Ranked choice voting, disabled student transportation

Sam Hutton, Staff Reporter

February 29, 2024

Collegian | Cait Mckinzie

The speaking podium of the ASCSU senate chamber Jan. 31.

The Associated Students of Colorado State University convened Feb. 28 for the 21st session of the 53rd senate.

Senate first heard from members of the elections committee, including Elections Committee Advisor Jason Huitt and Web Development Manager Dereck Jacobsen, who provided updates on the introduction of a ranked choice voting system ahead of the upcoming ASCSU elections.

The committee announced that a new ranked choice voting system built into RAMWeb will be utilized in the upcoming election cycle, although it will only be used in the presidential and vice presidential election. The system also excludes write-in candidates, with Elections Manager Kaitlyn Spencer citing technical issues and conflicts with the elections code as barriers to including additional candidates.

Plans for a ranked choice voting system were first made during the 52nd senate, with committee members hoping the new system will allow for greater student input in the ASCSU electoral process.

Executive reports followed, wherein President Nick DeSalvo provided updates concerning ongoing efforts to remove the U+2 residential policy through legislation in the Colorado General Assembly.

During judicial reports, Spencer and Chief Justice Alayna Truxal provided information regarding the candidate registration process for the upcoming elections.

Moving into confidence business, senate considered Bill #5317 “Amending Bill 5220.”

The legislation makes several clerical edits to Bill #5220, which provided funding from the Senate Discretionary Fund for the Temporarily Disabled Student Transportation Program.

The original legislation was designed to be reviewed annually, allowing the legislative authors to make edits to the original document through the 2027 fiscal year.

The legislative author, Chief of Staff Braxton Dietz, said he hopes continual funding for the program, which utilizes Parking and Transportation Services equipment to assist disabled students in navigating the CSU campus, will improve campus accessibility and encourage additional accessibility initiatives through ASCSU.

The bill will be sent to the legislative committees for further review.

ASCSU senate will resume March 6.

Reach Sam Hutton at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @Sam_Hut14.

About the Contributors

Sam Hutton, News Editor

Entering his third year at The Collegian, Sam Hutton is currently a news editor, a role he couldn't be more proud to step into. Hutton has over two years of news reporting experience under his belt, largely comprised of student government coverage. Opinionated to no end, Hutton is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in political science with a concentration in U.S. politics, and he plans to work as a public administrator after his time at Colorado State University. He's honored to be acting in his position as news editor and hopes to continue improving as a writer, colleague and student every day. Hutton is from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is thrilled to be a part of the Fort Collins and CSU communities, although a part of him will always miss the backdrop of Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. Mindful of The Collegian's long-established tradition of high-quality and fact-based news reporting, Hutton is especially excited to be acting as news editor during a national presidential election. He plans to apply what he's learned during his time at CSU and The Collegian to ensure readers are properly and fairly informed. He's reassured by the incredible team of journalists around him and is eager to see what The Collegian can accomplish next.

Cait Mckinzie, Photo Director

Cait Mckinzie is a second-year student double majoring in art and journalism and media communication. She is one of two photo directors for the 2024-25 school year. Despite growing up in Renton, Washington, Mckinzie knew she wanted to go to Colorado State University since middle school. She had only ever been to Colorado twice, but she visited campus once, and that was all it took. At first, there wasn’t much in Fort Collins that Mckinzie was familiar with. But in high school, she was the co-head of visuals for her school newspaper, so she applied to The Collegian as a photographer to get back into a similar environment. Mckinzie was first introduced to photography by her grandfather, who has been a photographer most of his life. After he gifted Mckinzie her first camera in her junior year of high school, she began to take any assignment she could for her high school paper to improve her skills. Of all the memories made in her first year at CSU, most of the interesting ones came from The Collegian. One Halloween drag show assignment, a lot of mentorship and a few months of practice later, Mckinzie found herself being offered the position of photo director for the next academic school year. Mckinzie is excited for another year at The Collegian and aims to continue learning and growing during her time as one of the photo directors.

Comments (0)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.

Share your thoughts...

All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest