Associated Students Inc. unanimously passed legislation it hopes will increase student participation on committees by offering incentives and streamlining the committee structure.

“I want to make it easy for students to get involved,” ASI President Jason Bryant said. Bryant and ASI are hoping for approval of its Leadership and Advocacy Committee on Friday when they meet with President Donald Gerth.

The Leadership and Advocacy Committee, if approved, would consist of students, faculty, staff and administrators. This committee would review the current university committee structure and look for ways to increase student participation on these committees.

According to Bryant, the current structure of university committees is a mess. There are nearly 100 committees ranging in size from one to four people, sometimes as many as ten. Most of the committees meet at different times of the year, and on different days at different times.

Bryant added that these circumstances make it extremely difficult to monitor the progress of committees, but more importantly, it makes it almost impossible to appoint interested students to a committee.

“It?s a huge problem,” Bryant said. “If a student comes to me and wants to be on a committee I can?t just look on a list. I have to make all these phone calls to find out if a committee the student is interested in fits his or her schedule. This has to be done with every single appointee.”

The Leadership and Advocacy Committee believes by mapping out the times and dates that each committee meets it can streamline the appointment process. By simplifying the appointment process, ASI hopes it will be able to maintain a network of dedicated students, and in turn, strengthen the student voice on university committees.

“If you want to have policy that is reflective of students, you must have student input,” Bryant said.

Also on the Leadership and Advocacy Committee?s agenda is creating a leadership class to act as an incentive for students to join committees. Students would get units to learn leadership skills. They could then apply these skills to an ASI committee of their choice. ASI says the creation of the class is a long-term but realistic goal. The class could be offered as soon as next year.

Bryant believes student input on committees is vital to the success of ASI, and the creation of the Leadership and Advocacy Committee is a step in the right direction.

ASI also passed its department funding request packet.

Any department wishing to be considered for funding must turn in the completed packet plus 20 copies to the ASI office by Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. ASI receives requests that far exceed its approximate budget of $200,000, so full funding may not be available.

In a memo, Executive Director of Finance Paul Ueckert said ASI is dedicated to thoroughly and fairly reviewing each request.

Ueckert requests in the memo that all questions in the packet be answered and deadlines met. For any questions regarding the qualifications for department funding or packet information, contact Ueckert by phone at (916) 278-6784 or by email at [email protected].