With less than a month until the end of the school year, most students are gearing up for summer vacation. However, philosophy and economics junior Isaac Miller is already preparing for the upcoming school year.
Miller was elected as Tempe Undergraduate Student Government President for the 2015-16 school year, along with Vice President of Policy Karis Felthouse and Vice President of Services Marissa Fullford.
Miller said he and his ticket will strive to meet student goals as best as possible, through state policies as well as University measures.
“I hope to ensure that USG is a service organization,” Miller said. “That USG comes alongside other students, that USG comes and meets other students and other student organizations and that we get to fulfill the goals of our fellow students, at the policy level, at the state level, at the (Arizona Board of Regents) level.”
Miller, who has spent one year on Tempe USG Senate as a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said he has gained a wealth of knowledge he will use during his time in office from outgoing Tempe USG President Cassidy Possehl.
“When I was trying to craft a resolution after hearing student concerns about the vertical bike racks on campus, I met with Cass to get a better perspective and learned that (the bike racks) were implemented in stages,” Miller said. “She helped me take a step back and have a vision of what the vertical bike racks will be in five years and express that to the University administration.”
Possehl said she is looking forward to seeing what Miller and his ticket will accomplish during their time in office.
"(Isaac) Miller, Marissa Fullford and Karis Felthouse are individually and collectively perfect for the roles that our student body has duly elected them to," Possehl said in an email. "Their platform included initiatives that are constituent driven and also attainable, which is incredibly important when you only have a year to work on these projects. They will serve the students wholeheartedly and with the incredible dedication they have already shown through their individual pursuits."
With recent budget cuts for state universities reaching more than $100 million, one of the biggest concerns for students has been the possibility of higher tuition. Miller said his ticket understands that a goal of every student is to lower tuition and they will lobby at the state level to keep tuition low.
ASU's tuition proposal, released Friday, calls for a one-year $320 charge for in-state students, a 4 percent increase for out-of-state students and an 11 percent increase for international students. The Arizona Board of Regents will vote on each university's tuition proposal on May 4.
Another initiative Miller and his office are looking to implement on a state level is using school IDs as an acceptable form of voter identification.
“We want to be able to make the voting process as convenient and as available to every student as possible,” Miller said.
After a sexual assault incident near the on-campus housing complex Adelphi Commons last year, concerns were brought to light regarding the lack of street lighting on Sunset Boulevard, the street located directly behind the complex. One street light on Sunset Boulevard is managed by the city of Tempe.
“We understand that a lot of students want to see better lighting in the city of Tempe around us,” Miller said. “We’d like to see better lighting (around Adelphi Commons), which means we’ll be working with the city of Tempe to try to make that happen.”
Last May, ASU was placed under investigation for possible federal violations in relation to sexual assault and harassment complaints.
“ASU is committed to providing an environment free from discrimination based on sex and provides a number of resources and services to assist students, faculty and staff in addressing issues involving sex discrimination, including sexual violence,” the University said in a statement released last May.
Miller said he would like to facilitate discussion on difficult topics, such as sexual assault, by starting education at the freshman-level classes.
“Every student wants a safer campus and every student wants to eradicate rape culture from the campus, so we think that one way we can help prevent sexual assault, help implement education on the matter, is by bringing an in-person discussion into the freshman intro classes on sexual assault and sexual education,” Miller said.
These education practices would allow his ticket to work alongside other student organizations that are all committed to that same goal of preventing sexual assault on campus, Miller said.
“I'd love to work with as many groups possible on that matter and try to create a curriculum alongside other professionals in the area over the course of the summer to implement this fall in the ASU 101 classes,” Miller said.
Another campus-wide issue Miller said he wants to focus on is implementing gender-neutral bathrooms and housing on campus. This month, Tempe USG Senate passed a bill that will pave the way to establish one gender-neutral bathroom in each ASU public building and one gender-neutral floor in each residential community.
Miller said the biggest part of his presidency will be working alongside his fellow students and listening to their concerns.
“The big part is not losing touch with fellow students and catalyzing open lines of communication with students,” Miller said. “We have to have student concerns on table to hear from students to prioritize accordingly.”
Possehl said Miller should take student concerns into consideration when focusing on which issues to tackle during his time in office.
"My biggest piece of advice for Isaac would be to research and invest in all of the background discussions," Possehl said. "It is so easy in this position to get floored with passion and blindly push forward for initiatives that feel important, but often there are very real logistical issues or philosophical inconsistencies in the way. You have to listen and weigh all aspects in every project and discussion, and until you have made those considerations, there is no way to represent the students' best interest."
Reach the reporter at Jlsuerth@asu.edu or on Twitter at @SuerthJessica
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
