ASUN Report

"Francis Mader"
UNL Business Major


The Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, or ASUN, has had a busy year. Not unlike Congress in Washington, D.C., it appears as if the senators and executives feel as if they are not productive unless they are creating programs and then finding ways to fund them from those they claim to represent. Low voter turnout statistics aside, the ones in office are always ready to reallocate the people’s income and decide to which contractor or interest group it should go.

Recently the ASUN senate passed an interesting legislation from the Campus Wellness Ad Hoc Committee almost unanimously. SB #4 addresses the legitimate issue of replacing the East Campus Rec Center, and then attaches the far less urgent concerns of adding 3,000 sq. ft to the City Campus Rec and a brand new health center. Concerns for the health center primarily included that there is not an isolation, in the event of an airborne disease, and that On March 4th, the students get to vote on all three projects at once, since ASUN senators decided that the health center and city Rec addition would have greater chances of getting approved if attached to East Campus Rec. Keep an eye out for ASUN advertisements “educating” the students about the proposal to increase student fees $80 per student per semester.

The Dailyer Nebraskan was projected to end in December due to lack of advertising, but a recent request went to the Committee for Fee Allocation for an amount of $12,000 to print bimonthly for the 2009-2010 year along with the requested increase from student fees.

Currently the Committee for Fee Allocation is considering ASUN’s budget proposals to more than double the executive benefits to $2720, which will include cell phone stipends, parking passes, and meal plans. The committee is also considering increasing the funding for NU on Wheels, since the popular ride home was supported by contingency funds for the end of the fiscal year.