In a previous blog article, here, we highlighted our four issue campaigns that students voted on during our April Delegates.
As the academic year is now just over a month away, we thought it was a perfect time to discuss these issue campaigns and the work our students will be doing on campus this coming year.
the "who" of our campus work.
First, I would like to congratulate the seven Campus Organizing Interns that were hired for each of the seven universities:
Bemidiji State University - Galen Hlavsa
Metropolitan State University - Burak Tekin
Minnesota State University, Mankato - Tien Bui
Minnesota State University, Moorhead - Megan Warneke
Southwest Minnesota State University - David Shittu
St. Cloud State University - Kane Martin
Winona State University - Ashlyn Crawford
These seven students will hire a committee for their campuses and lead their committees throughout the year. If you are interested in being a part of a Students United committee apply here. Stay tuned for a introduction blog about our Campus Organizing Interns in the near future!
what is the work?
For the upcoming academic year, students chose to focus on Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts, College Affordability, Sexual Violence Prevention and Retention.
For the 2016 election, Students United committees will focus on registering their peers to vote, encouraging their peers to vote and informing them about the voting process. This campaign be run during the first few month of Fall Semester. We have set ambitious goals and hope to help increase the number of college students in Minnesota that go out to vote on November 8, 2016.
College Affordability is another issue we will focus on. Student affordability will look at textbook affordability, tuition costs, loan refinancing along with other factors that affect the cost of college for students. We will also shine a light on retention and how retention is correlated with student involvement.
The Sexual Violence Prevention campaign has come back for a second year. This was chosen as an issue campaign for the 2015-2016 academic year and was re-voted to stay as an issue campaign for the 2016-2017 year. We will be partnering with a group called RE-Initiative located in Winona. This group is funded by a federal grant and focuses on educating students on gender-based violence.
We look forward to the amazing work our committees will be doing this coming year.
If you have any additional questions about the campus committees or the issue campaigns they will be working on contact our Director of Campus Organizing Neil Assve at naasve@studentsunited.org.