ASCSU in Review

With the fall semester completed and the spring semester

beginning, CSU’s student government prepares to implement new

programs before elections.

The Collegian spoke with Associated Students of CSU’s current

administration about what is to come this spring and about its

first seven months in office.

ASCSU President Jesse Lauchner said RamRide was the biggest

program from last semester and the largest program ASCSU has ever

put together.

The program, which started Oct. 24, provides safe rides to CSU

students from bars, restaurants and parties to their front

doorstep.

Volunteer drivers do not ask a student’s age or reason why they

need a ride. RamRide has provided 1,004 rides and 196 carloads to

date, according to www.ramride.colostate.edu.

“This was the first time that we felt students (who) hadn’t been

really positively impacted by ASCSU were starting to become more

positive about what we were doing,” Lauchner said. “(RamRide was)

responding in a different way than any administration had in the

past and stop looking at things that people don’t take advantage of

and don’t care about and start looking more at ways to really help

with what students need.”

Both Lauchner and Katie Clausen, ASCSU vice president, said that

a lack of positive support has plagued the organization’s

relationship with students for years.

ASCSU’s Web page has been revamped as part of the government’s

strong focus on communication and work still continues.

“We went from getting 1,000 hits a semester to over 3,000 a

month,” Lauchner said.

ASCSU promotion isn’t the only way student government has been

utilizing the Internet. Ramweb now features a much more

user-friendly registration and class schedule.

“If you registered online on Ramweb, (there is) a whole new

interface,” Clausen said. “It is a lot easier to figure out where

the classes are, you can search a lot of different ways.”

Students can now search the schedule by course number,

instructor, course name or all university core curriculum

category.

The university plans to stop printing paper class schedules as a

result of the improved online access to class schedules.

ASCSU also opened a resource office for student

organizations.

Delijah Shead, president of the Black Student Association, said

that although she rarely deals with ASCSU, when there are problems,

she has found them helpful.

“When problems have come up, they are always very willing to

help,” she said.

Patrick Hutchinson, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council

and a former member of ASCSU, is pleased with their work as

well.

“They do incredible work with what they have to do over there,

which I know from experience can be a large, daunting task,”

Hutchinson said.

He points out that there is always room for improvement, and

that more outreach and communication with the students “is always

good.”

Not every project ASCSU has undertaken ended the way they had

hoped, however.

The organization wanted to examine the plus/minus grading

system. Currently in some classes, students who score a B+ receive

a GPA equivalent higher than a B. If a student scores a B-, he or

she receives a GPA lower than a flat B.

Individual instructors choose whether or not they use plus/minus

scoring. When ASCSU began to negotiate a possible change in the

system, many faculty members protested, making the possibility of a

change less likely.

With such a successful fall, planning has already begun for the

current semester.

The new Colorado Legislative session has drawn the attention of

ASCSU as well, and plans are underway to meet with a number of

members to ensure the student voice is heard concerning upcoming

topics this year, including rising tuition costs, TABOR and an

Academic Bill of Rights.

ASCSU hopes to affect some local laws as well. There is a local

city law stating that no more than three unrelated people can live

in the same house.

Lauchner and Clausen plan to meet with the Fort Collins City

Council in the hope of changing the ordinance so students can more

easily find roommates and a place to live.