Every fee-paying student that attends Weber State University is a part of the Weber State University Student Association. Despite this, many students know very little about how the WSUSA leadership is organized, leading some to wonder “What do WSUSA leadership even do?”
WSUSA is broken into three branches: the judicial, executive and legislative. The judicial system exists to ensure everyone is following the rules, the executive is in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly and the legislative is responsible for appropriating student funds and passing resolutions.
“Those students who are serving in leadership roles on the various teams try to make sure they are planning and providing enjoyable experiences for students throughout the year,” said Tara Peris, director of Student Involvement and Leadership and coordinator of Risk Management.
WSUSA is the group in charge of planning events for students as well. Student Body President Mia Foster talked about an upcoming silent disco event on Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. “That’s a fun one that we’re working on … Last semester, we had some great success.”
Beyond approving funding for student events, clubs and projects, WSUSA also represents the interest of the student body. WSUSA’s legislative body is made up of 20 senators each representing different interests within Weber State.
“Every college has a different senator that represents them, as well as different diverse populations of people have a senator that represents them,” WSUSA Executive Vice President Landon Coombs said. “So between all of us, we come together in our senate meetings every Monday at two, and we discuss things, we bring up activities or initiatives we’re working on. We try to just make the lives of students a little bit better.”
The senators are responsible for working with Weber State’s different departments to support the students they represent. Shasanka Gautam, the international student senator, for example, has been working with the Career Services department to help international students access better opportunities.
“So right now, a lot of the problems that (International students) been concerning and they’ve been telling to me is, they are not getting good job opportunities on campus because as an international student, we are limited to work on campus. We cannot work outside. So that’s the major concern,” Gautam said.
The senators are not the only ones who represent the students of Weber State. In the executive wing, WSUSA’s president also serves as a representative. “I get to sit on the board of trustees, which is huge, and in those meetings, I have a report that I give every single month,” Foster said.
Not only does WSUSA work within Weber to represent students on a small scale, but it also works to represent the interests of students statewide being part of the Utah Student Association.
“When we find out things are happening in the legislative session. Last year, for example, it was HB265 and the talk on student fees. The student body presidents get to basically all in Utah, get to talk to our legislators and give guidance about how we feel about it. And we collect information from students,” Foster said.
This cooperation with the legislature gives WSUSA the opportunity to communicate with the legislators regarding some of the most controversial issues related to higher education.
“(The legislature is) seeing from HB261, which was the anti-DEI bill, saying that there’s actually a lot of things that they learned from it, that they saw programs on college campuses that did make sense, that did align with what we should be doing institutionally,” Foster said. “That bill caused a restriction on some of those things. So that was a conversation we had that was interesting.”
Despite the occasional contentious issues that WSUSA deals with, the leadership overwhelmingly enjoys the experience.
“Get involved. There’s so much good with getting involved. It’s such a great experience and something that has shaped my life and shaped many other people’s lives. I’m excited to see the future of WSUSA, and I’m excited to go from there,” Foster said.
Getting involved in WSUSA is easier than some might expect. “Students who are not in leadership positions can participate by simply getting involved in these different experiences by showing up and take advantage of the opportunities being provided,” Peris said.
There are elections that students can also participate in to decide who represents them. “I recommend that all students just get involved as soon as they can because truly getting involved at Weber has changed everything for me, opened up a lot of relationships to me, and just a ton of cool dynamics and experiences that I would have never had if I didn’t get involved,” Coombs said.
