Dan Adler, who coaches PSU’s debate team, thinks that the Associated Students of Portland State University is doing a great job. Last term, he was glad to see them put on political events and said they had a really good get-out-the-vote campaign. “In political years like that, I think it’s really important to have student advocates getting out on campus,” he said. “In off-years, when there’s no election going on, they don’t do much…I think the student vote mattered a lot this last election, and I think it’s very important for our voices to be heard.”
Being new to campus, Gloria Trujillo, 35, said she was busy trying to figure out school and never really learned a whole lot about student government. “I don’t know much about it,” she said. “I don’t know what they do, so I’m not very sure.” She also said that she voted in the student body presidential race, but she doesn’t know what the president’s role is. Trujillo suggested a tab on the PSU webpage about student government to help people understand who they are and what they do. “It might be there, I just haven’t seen it,” she said.
Rachael Goldstein, 22, said that even though she has a lot of friends involved in student government, she’s not really sure what they do. The senior, who is double-majoring in art and Spanish, said, “What I can tell is that they’re trying to get more stuff rolling. I think I’ve heard in the past that the school didn’t really let them have very much control over things, so they weren’t very effective, but they’re trying to change that as far as what I’ve heard.”
Alexandra Olson, 20, admitted that she doesn’t really know a lot about student government, but she feels their productivity depends heavily on how the university deals with them, “[b]ecause from what I’ve seen, that’s kind of what makes more of a difference. Even if they are willing to make a huge difference and they put in the time, it’s really if the school gives them that much power,”
Olson said.