Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) Associated Student Government (ASG) has recently seen some important seat changes. Two previous members left their positions last semester, opening up elections for the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Speaker of the House (SOTH).
“I’m excited. I never thought at the beginning of the year when I joined ASG that I would become CFO. I did student government in high school and stuff and so I was wanting to get involved [. . .] so I’m excited to be a part of it this year,” said finance and economics senior Carissa Crawford.
Elections saw Crawford appointed as the Chief Financial Officer and second-year cellular molecular and developmental (CMD) biology student Siya Salunke appointed as Speaker of the House. Crawford and Salunke were previous the art & design senator and a house representative respectively.
“I’m hoping to get elected as our speaker again, I think that’d be a lot of fun. I got to be a part of the biennial process my freshman year and I had a lot of fun with it,” said Salunke.
Both seats come with a lot of responsibility.
“So I am in charge of all of the budgets. Not just for ASG, but ASG oversees all organizations and clubs’ funds. So CCIC, CAB, we oversee all of theirs as well. So basically all financial questions kind of come to me. [. . .] when clubs request money, I help them come up with or create the bills for the house and the senate. Then I walk [them] through everything that they’re doing, where the money is going and kind of help them come together with how they’re going to present [the bill],” said Crawford.
The CFO handles the budget for most student-lead associations while the SOTH advocates for and leads the representatives.
“First and foremost, [The House Speaker’s] responsibilities are to be able to lead the house, just being on the forefront for the house and being able to support the house, standing up for them in ASG as a part of the legislative branch. Just holding our regular weekly meetings on Mondays and making sure they go by standard, they go by smoothly and working with the Senate Leader,” Salunke said.
Crawford and Salunke both have specific changes they wish to see in ASG. As Crawford put it, most surplus money is used as reserves, which traditionally goes untouched. Crawford hopes to use reserve funds more proactively.
“From a financial standpoint, that money can’t be invested and that’s the only reason that I think that they’d be okay to sit there, is if they were being invested, but right now, they’re just decreasing [. . .] Right now, at least, we have a lot in our reserves and I think that we should use that, since it is past generations’ money. We should use it to benefit the future generations. Like a project like the Student Life Center: Some of the reserves of the past were used to fund building that. So that’s going to be beneficial for tons of generations to come.” Crawford explained.
Meanwhile, Salunke hopes to bring the house and senate together in communication.
“I think one of our really big goals to pursue this particular semester is bringing [the] senate and house together a little bit more, bringing them a little bit more closer. So Senator Stebbins and I have come up with different ways to do that.”
Salunke also hopes to be a voice for diversity on campus.
“Diversity is not very colorful out here. I’m from India, and I think putting in a diverse face on the placard kind of brings a lot more attention from people all around, seeing that ASG is trying to get people from different backgrounds.”
Both members expressed that they want students to show up to the public ASG meetings and know that even without being part of ASG they can attend meetings, advocate for themselves and learn how the process works. Many students don’t realize how much of their experience relies on the efforts of volunteers like Crawford and Salunke.
