ASMSU hosted its first meeting of the semester on Thursday, discussing future projects the organization will look to tackle now that they are past their summer feud with the university.
ASMSU President Evan Martinak said the undergraduate student government is in a better place now than it was on June 21, when they were still struggling with the university’s decision to request the organization move funds to on-campus accounts.
“Since we moved our funds to accounts on campus, our special projects account is sitting on a lot of money,” said Martinak, adding that now the student government will be able to work on projects they have been pushing back, such as Safe Ride and a Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA, app.
“We had a risk-management fund where we put away money to operate with incase of (an) emergency,” Vice President for Special Projects Abbie Newton said. “Now that we’re under the university, (risk management) comes with it.”
She also said the CATA app is only an idea for now, adding that they still don’t know if they will partner with the university or CATA to bring it to students. The app would provide students with prompt route and schedule updates as they go.
Newton also said ASMSU has been working with the university since last year to provide a “free taxi service” where students can call and the organization will provide them with a safe ride.
“Safe Ride is a safety thing first and foremost, so we need to take all the necessary measures,” Vice President for Finance and Operations Michael Mozina said.
Mozina said ASMSU will probably have to poll students to get statistics about how many students would potentially use it, stressing on the fact that the service will be all about the safety of the students.
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