Marilee Lorusso
Staff Writer
The Associated Student Federation Forum has always been the center of student life at the University of La Verne. Now, ASF is taking on a new role focusing more on the voice of the students.
“Our focus has changed,” ASF President Dana McJunkin said. “Right now we are reconstructing. We were more of an activities board; now we’re more of a student advocacy board.”
With the creation of the Campus Activities Board, ASF will now be able to focus more on the students and their concerns.
ASF has always been a type of liaison between the students and the administration. With the changing and restructuring going on within ASF, many students holding positions within the body will be given specific duties to reach out to the students. Now more than ever, ASF will be able to utilize committees to represent the students with more of a focus on the concerns and opinions of the student body.
“ASF has been affected in the sense that it is no longer a programming board; we have now changed into an advocacy board,” said Liz Canales, who holds a senator position in ASF.
“This means that we will now be the voice of the students and deal with issues that students feel strongly about such as campus safety, parking, class scheduling and so on.”
Many members of the University community have questioned the relevance of ASF and the importance of the duties that it performs. By leaving planning activities on campus to CAB, the Forum will theoretically be able to make a more tangible difference on campus, thus proving their worth.
Forum members have spent time during their weekly meetings developing successful ways to reach out to the students.
Student participation is necessary in order for ASF to make changes on campus. ASF plans to survey students to find out what topics and problems need to be addressed. Once these surveys are completed, the Forum will be able to determine the changes that need to be made. Specific committees made up of ASF members will be utilized to conduct these surveys.
Currently, “Spots to Watch,” a newsletter published with information direct from Student Affairs has been sent out to all students.
ASF holds weekly meetings every Monday. Students are welcome to come and participate in the meetings. However, the only thing students cannot participate in is the voting. These meetings are a type of forum in which students can voice their thoughts and opinions.
Meetings are held in the President’s Dining Room at 4 p.m.
Marilee Lorusso can be reached at mlorusso@ulv.edu.
