ASUI Senate introduced five new senators and one returner, Sen. Emma Johnston, following this spring’s elections. From overflow housing to campus safety, ASUI’s five new senators all have distinctive focuses coming into their terms.
Mo Jabril
Senator-elect Jabril is studying civil engineering in his first year at the university and is a member of Beta Theta Chi. As a result of the fall’s overflow housing, Jabril was placed in a hotel off campus and then a fraternity during his first semester, only getting into the dorms at the beginning of spring.
“You’re leaving home, you’re coming to a whole different city,” Jabril said. “And then you’re put in a hotel, away from campus.”
Jabril admitted that Housing and Residence Life was likely overwhelmed, but that communication from the university was poor. Moving forward, he hopes they will be more proactive.
“I want (freshmen overflow) to be stopped completely,” Jabril said. “I want them to understand that they’re getting bigger, and they need to build more dorms or make more space.”
In his upcoming term, Jabril wants to improve dorm conditions and have easy-to-access maintenance requests.
Anya Zuercher
Zuercher is a freshman elementary education major looking to improve safety on campus, including installing safe buttons and educating students on campus resources.
Safe buttons are placed across some university campuses for students in crisis to call for help. Zuercher’s particular interest in the safe buttons came after a scary experience with a friend hitting her head and passing out on campus.
“We had to try to walk her back to our dorm, but none of us had our phones, they were all dead,” Zuercher said.
Despite living on a seemingly safe campus, Zuercher said that in that moment, no one stopped to help, not even a cop who was driving by.
“If we could have been able to press the safe button … we could have had an expert advise on what to do with her,” Zuercher said. “Whether she needed to go to the hospital, or whether we needed to take her home, because we didn’t know what to do.”
Zuercher hopes to lessen students’ hesitation in using current resources available at UI, referring to UI’s Safe Walk as an example.
“Even though it’s a good idea, and it’s a good setup, people are scared of the consequences,” she said. “Because that seems like too serious of a thing just for a walk home.”
Nikhil Gill
Senator-elect Gill is a sophomore medical science major who hopes to give international students a voice. Originally from Punjab, India, this is Gill’s second year in Moscow.
“You see many people who have a completely different thought process, or completely different thoughts, about what a culture is and how you live in a society,” Gill said.
While facing the culture shock of coming to Idaho, international students also have to adapt to a different college system. Gill was surprised to have flexible class schedules and approachable teachers.
He hopes to uplift the international community at the University of Idaho and better connect them to the student government. As of now, he feels there is no representation for these students.
“They have a voice,” Gill said. “If they have any problems, they can just come in (to the senate) Anything that they believe needs to be changed, I’ll vote for that.”
A challenge experienced by many international students, Gill said, is adapting to a closed campus during academic breaks. Having lived in the dorms during his first year, he found himself looking to friends off campus with the Eatery closed.
“I was looking for friends who live off campus to go cook something at their place or just for a place to stay,” Gill said.
He hopes to improve resources provided for students who remain on campus over breaks.
Luella Smith
Smith is a freshman transfer student from Boise State University majoring in human development and family studies. Originally from Lowell, Idaho, she has felt more at home in Moscow since the transfer.
“I am kind of used to more of a smaller community,” Smith said. “I didn’t feel that as much at Boise State, it was hard to get connected at times.”
Since then, she has been a LLC building representative and plans to go Greek in the fall.
In ASUI, she hopes to improve harm reduction on campus by advocating for resources including Narcan and fentanyl testing strips. In contrast to recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Idaho law labels testing strips for the illicit drug as illegal.
“I didn’t realize that fentanyl testing strips were illegal until I came up here and they were just nowhere to be found,” Smith said. “I would like to work on a large state level in my position along with the President Tanner McClain … working to lobby to get those in the hands of Idahoans.”
With her rural background, Smith understood the importance of connecting with the community, citing international students as a group ASUI could better acknowledge.
“I represent and I appreciate a lot of different communities on campus,” Smith said. “I want your voice to be heard.”
Mason Stampfli
A freshman in international studies and philosophy major, Stampfli was voted into the senate with a focus on improving student turnout and working with Greek Life.
Despite not being a part of a Greek chapter, Stampfli hopes to promote it as a good way to foster brother and sisterhood.
Another goal Stampfli hopes to accomplish is acquiring free parking spots on campus.
“It would be first come first serve,” Stampfli said. “The people that get to school earlier … those are the people that are going to work the hardest.”
In his time in the senate, he hopes to foster respectful dialogue on campus no matter the issue.
“Everybody in the university should try and be as kind to each other and understanding towards each other as possible,” Stampfli said. “When there may be some ideas of the public or the university that might not agree with values of the students …We should challenge those values and apply logical criticism to them.”
Returning ASUI Sen. Emma Johnston did not respond to requests for an interview.
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq