The Associated Students of Portland State has multiple diverse committees that represent the students of PSU on a number of issues and continuously works with both students and staff to make this campus and its policies better. However, most students don’t know very much about these committees and what they do for the students.
One such committee is Student Life, which is headed by Director Zia Laboff. According to Laboff, the role of the SLC is “to increase the awareness about ASPSU on our campus.” To this end, the SLC has rolled out a new ASPSU newsletter which is sent to all students’ emails.
The first of these monthly newsletters was sent out Nov. 23 and included information on recent ASPSU resolutions, a description of ASPSU and what it does. The newsletter highlighted upcoming events on campus, provided tips on staying healthy during the cold season, gave links to apply for open ASPSU positions and ask ASPSU questions, and provided a fun fact about PSU.
Laboff hopes that the ASPSU newsletter will “keep the student body up to date with what their student government is working on.”
Besides the newsletter, the SLC’s biggest campaign at the moment is about the university’s policy on intoxicated students returning to their dorms. In the PSU Housing Handbook for 2016–17, wording such as “detectable…alcohol intoxication” being prohibited may lead to students who live in dorms partaking in unsafe behavior, such as driving while intoxicated, in order to stay away from their dorm so they won’t be caught and get in trouble. Student Life, with the aid of the Equal Rights Advocacy Committee, is working to resolve the safety issues presented by this policy as it currently stands.
Laboff also said the SLC’s overarching goal “is to make students aware of the resources they have available to them on campus.” Laboff and the SLC hope the newsletter will work to achieve this, and ASPSU also hosted a “Get to Know Your Student Government” public forum on Nov. 29. For more information, look at ASPSU’s Facebook page.
“For this year I’ve made it our goal to really foster connections on campus,” Laboff said. “I think that it benefits students even more when student groups can find causes or events to work on together, and it really strengthens our PSU community as a whole. I hope we can do more of this as the year progresses and leave that legacy for the years to come.”
To stay up to date with the SLC and other ASPSU committees, keep an eye out for the ASPSU newsletters, look at the committee bios on the university’s website, and follow the ASPSU Facebook page.
