Undergraduate Student Government West has neglected to update its website, bylaws, meeting schedule and representatives information for at least a year.
Its website lacks an updated Senate board for the school year of 2019-2020 and has only a 2017-2018 schedule of their Senate meeting agendas and minutes. It also shows their bylaws have not been updated since 2017.
The bylaws specifically state that the Senate meeting minutes are to be digitally published on both Sun Devil Sync and the USGW website "by midnight on the first day of the following semester."
The most recent Senate meeting minutes that have been posted are from Jan. 12, 2018.
Sophomore Jocelyn Ramirez, who is majoring in social and behavioral sciences, gave her impression on USGW's involvement on campus.
"I really haven't noticed them. I don't really know what they do, I don't know really know who the president is," Ramirez said. "I've noticed more (Programs and Activities Board) events than student government."
While USGW has not updated its own website, there is a shared Google document between all four campuses that contains the Council of Presidents meeting notes that can be found on the Associated Students of ASU website, and a link to a PDF with the goals and priorities for the COP for this school year.
Ashley Peña Gonzalez, a freshman majoring in health solutions and senator for the College of Health Solutions, said in an email statement that the absence of information is due to several vacant leadership positions.
"I believe we should be up to date with posting those Senate meeting minutes for the students to see," Peña Gonzalez said. "However, we are trying our best to get that going."
Ronald Hicks, senior associate dean of students and advisor to USGW, said they try to use different methods to engage with the community in order to accurately represent the student body.
"I don't know (if) there is one method that works, as we need to always be communicating with the student population to gather input and engage them in the campus community," Hicks said. "The use of social media is powerful, as it is a way of spreading the word about events and activities on campus."
In regard to different ways USGW might influence students to stay engaged with them, Hicks said, "I would say coordinating events and tabling are another way for USGW to garner feedback and spread awareness of events and activities for the West students."
Freshman criminology major Grace McLamb expressed her feelings about USGW and how they operate on West campus.
“I think they are (involved),” said McLamb. “I’ve seen them out in front of the library, so I think that they’re making the effort.”
Earlier this year, the ASASU Elections Facebook page posted the 2019-2020 USG election results for all ASU campuses. The Facebook page and the ASASU website are the only places with a list of the current USGW Senate members.
The most current information available on USGW is located on Instagram. The page appears to be USGW's only active form of social media, and while it occasionally posts links to upcoming events, it shows little about who is on the current Senate for the West campus.
The Instagram posts include the emails of some current senators encouraging students to reach out if and when needed. However, the USGW website does not have a link to their Instagram page.
The USGW Twitter page has been relatively inactive since 2015, only resurfacing to retweet one tweet in 2018. USGW also has a Facebook page that is less active than Instagram.
Although it's not on USGW's website, the president for this school year is senior Tony Camisi, who is studying business management.
When asked about not utilizing the USGW Twitter and Facebook page, Camisi said in a message, "I do believe that having more social media handles are important, but we felt that Instagram was the easiest way for us to reach out to students with the goal of maintaining 'student friendly' notifications and updates."
He added that the Facebook page has not been successful and the Twitter account "has been relatively inactive due to a large lack of (consistent) followers."
Camisi's Snapchat is posted on the USGW Instagram to allow students easier access to him and any upcoming information that USGW has to share.
Camisi said Snapchat allows him to update West students in a brief and entertaining way.
"I feel honored to be the first president in USG West history to share news and updates about our work through the popular network known as Snapchat," Camisi wrote.
Camisi is also aware of the outdated website and bylaws.
"I accept responsibility as the student body president," he wrote. "Once we hire our entire USGW staff is when we feel that it would be easiest to make all the necessary updates."
Reach the reporter at nnano@asu.edu and follow @halentinos on Twitter.
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