Utah Valley University Student Association (UVUSA) has been working all year to better the campus of UVU, and have done so once again.
Starting March 7, UVUSA will be promoting its new constitution changes for the UVU student body’s vote.
The main focus is implementing Inclusion Plan 2.0 and the goal of wanting to increase the diverse representation in student leadership programs.
“We are excited about the changes,” Brylee Bromely, UVUSA Executive Vice President, said, “and feel very strongly this is the best direction for the organization and our student body.”
The implementation of a new council position called Chief Inclusion Officer is a part of these changes. Their tasks include expanding pathways and the development of a strategy to create a culture for equity, diversity, and inclusion.
The CIO will be an appointed position, just like all the other positions on the council. The new Executive Council will put out applications in the next couple weeks and will conduct interviews to identify who will hold each position for the 2020-2021 academic year, including the new Chief Inclusion Officer.
“Our hope is that with the creation of the Chief Inclusion Officer and the Inclusion Ambassadors, all students will feel support from the UVUSA Student Government who stand as their voice,” said Bromely. “We want them to feel like their voice is heard and potentially apply for positions themselves as they see a wider variety of representation in each position. We have confidence this will increase collaboration and will show exceptional care to the students.”
UVUSA will be working closely with the Multi-Cultural Student Council, Clubs, and International Student Council to make sure they have strong candidates that apply.
“With the current constitution, UVUSA has been able to grow students’ involvement and do great things around campus. However, there has been a lack of representation of many groups on campus,” said international student council liaison, PJ Mazimpaka. “Moreover, it has been a big burden for us (liaisons) to represent the organizations who have a chance to be voiced on the UVUSA council as we were assuming two positions, not just one.”
According to Mazimpaka, it will allow more diversity from more organizations that did not have direct representation on the student council.
“The new changes in the constitution allow more student voices to be heard. We need to make sure that we take everyone into consideration,” said Salvador Oregon-Torres, Multicultural Student Council Liaison. “The Chief Inclusion Officer would be able to provide that space for them to be heard.”
UVUSA will have tables this upcoming week to offer more in-depth information to students.
