Student senate holds elections for fall semester

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The College of Arts and Sciences Student Senate is finishing as many projects it can before elections are held for a new group of students to take charge of change at Pacific.

“We want to move out of our infancy stage,” said CASSS President Blaise Holden.

The ideas Holden has to make this transition lie in finishing current projects and setting the path for future students to make Pacific what the student body wants it to be.

CASSS is improving and updating their website. Vice President of Communications Shandra Swilling said she is working to make CASSS’s website its own entity.

By having its own website, not directly associated with Pacificu.edu, CASSS is continuing to make its name stand out for the students of Pacific.

Communication continues to be a goal for the students that make up CASSS. Holden said they are still looking for ways to improve students’ communication with members of CASSS.

Along with hearing the student body, CASSS is looking to improve their internal functions. To do this, Holden said CASSS needs to be a “well-oiled machine.”

But before they turn over their titles to the next group of leaders, Holden and crew still have work to do.

They are putting on the Undergraduate Leadership Conference Feb. 25. This will be the conference’s sophomore year at Pacific and with the large number of students involved last year, CASSS is hoping for a similar turnout. The theme of this year’s conference is the idea of engagement. Students will listen to key note speakers, attend workshops and learn from other student leaders during this event. Registration is required for this conference and a signup sheet is being tabled in the U.C.

CASSS is helping host the Open Forums held weekly on campus. The first forum of this semester will be on campus tobacco use. These forums are intended to spark conversations between students and to compile solutions to problems on campus, said Holden. The conversation is open to take whichever direction the students please it to.

“This conversation would potentially be talking about banning or restricting or even promoting tobacco use on campus” said Holden.

Along with the start of the forums, CASSS is also hoping to close a Bike Shelter Project. The city of Forest Grove shifted their timelines for bike shelters and so CASSS has been delayed in moving forward with this project. But Holden said they are laying the ground work for this project to be done by the end of this summer at the latest.

More recent on their agenda though, CASSS is holding elections for new officers. Elections will be held on Feb. 20 and 21, with applications being sent out prior on Feb. 17.

“We are looking at a lot of qualified candidates,” said Holden. “We are looking for motivated students and hoping for a full-fledged group of people.”

With saying farewell to his role of president, Holden said he wanted to emphasize effective transition for the incoming group.

“I want to set up a good shoulder for the next,” said Holden.

Until then though, he said it is his responsibility to help facilitate the current plans CASSS has.

“Ideally, if students want change, then it’s our role to help change it,” said Holden.

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