Friday, April 23, 2021 Sustainability, transparency and fair fees are goals of new ASUN officers

written by Kirsten Wandrey | Student Affairs
photo by Adeline Burger | Daily Nebraskan

The Association of Students of the University of Nebraska (ASUN) recently held the annual election for the student body to choose its next President, Internal Vice President and External Vice President. This year's new officers were sworn in at a ceremony on April 21, 2021. Their vision for an improved UNL includes a focus on student advocacy and ensuring all voices are heard.

Batool Ibrahim is the new student body president and Patrick Baker and Taylor Jarvis are serving as External Vice President and Internal Vice President, respectively.

Jarvis has been involved in ASUN since her freshman year. When she saw an opportunity for students to step up and run for executive positions, she felt as though she needed to take the next step.

"I had faith that my skillset, ASUN experience, and passion for the organization would serve me well in an executive role," said Jarvis. "As soon as Batool, Patrick and I found each other, it was a no brainer to decide to take the leap together."

This year's election also helped make UNL history, as Ibrahim will be ASUN's first Black president. Read more about Ibrahim's goals for putting students first and her excitement for the upcoming term here.

Baker has also been in ASUN since his freshman year, but never saw himself taking on a leadership role. However, this changed once he served as a senator for the College of Arts and Sciences for the 2020-21 term.

"After seeing the drive and passion of the [previous] executive team, I was inspired to run for a position myself," said Baker.

The team's platform is largely centered around six key issues: sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, focus on well-being, adaptive and comprehensive accessibility, transparency and fair fees.

According to Jarvis, the new platform is organized in a "pillar and point" format. Each of the six pillars has a more detailed set of goals and initiatives meant to accomplish the overarching theme. For instance, one pillar is "renewed focus on well-being." Jarvis said the more detailed goals under this pillar include "advocating for online scheduling for CAPS, increasing awareness of CAPS alternatives and exploring mental health resource opportunities for students outside of the UNL system." View the rest of the Revitalize party's pillars on its official Instagram account.

Each new officer is coming into their role with a set of goals to improve UNL and the overall student experience. Baker sees his role as external vice president as a way to facilitate a better relationship between the university and the surrounding Lincoln community.

"I want to improve our external outreach and support of local businesses and help to become more engaged with our city government," said Baker.

Jarvis is excited to become a resource for student issues and will use her position to increase student engagement with student government.

"The role of student government is to advocate for students. Every responsibility that we take on should reflect that advocacy," Jarvis said. "Students should be the sole stakeholders of student government."

With their six pillars and inspiration in hand, this trio is ready to take on the upcoming term. They are honored and excited to hit the ground running to improve student advocacy across campus.

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