How will CUSG recover for the better?

Throughout this series, we’ve examined issues that have purportedly plagued CU Student Government for years, and that seemingly came to a  boiling point last fall. However, how this organization functions is vital to the student experience on CU Boulder’s campus.

CUSG is responsible for funding many of the university’s operating organizations. With tensions rising between the branches, the question of how these institutions will continue to function is raised. 

According to the CUSG website, the students are the financial decision makers for multiple on-campus institutions. They control 43% of the Student Recreation Center’s annual budget and 31% of the UMC’s, as well as funding for student employees in various on-campus jobs. 

With elections for the 2022-2023 academic school year coming up next week, candidates for representatives at large and tri-executive tickets have submitted their applications for the election and begun the campaign process. 

While a 11.9% voter turnout by the CU student body for last year’s election may seem low, this is a record-beating turnout compared to other universities, said Jake Carias, Ph.D candidate and former CUSG member. But others have speculated that election advantages are singling out those with on-campus popularity. 

“Greek life has played a role in electing every single executive that I’ve known. We also know that there’s these built-in advantages to those systems when you have, especially at CU Boulder, these massive fraternities and sororities,” Carias said. “I think there definitely needs to be a continued and sustained effort to bring other people in, but you have to address the systemic issues within the organization before you’ll be able to make it feel like a space where everybody can be.”

CUSG also had the opportunity to participate in the search for a new CU President after policy changes were made to the system that elects a candidate. For the first time in history, one graduate and one undergraduate student from the four CU campuses will be able to sit on the search committee. Tri-executive Taylor Weinsz made the decision of who would be representing CU Boulder. Ultimately, students from CU Denver and CU Anschutz were chosen since only two students from four campuses were able to be on the committee.  

Tensions and expectations are high as the search for a new president commences, and the weight fell on Weinsz to nominate a student candidate who upholds the values of the people. 

“The way that we are going to make sure we learn from our mistakes under the last administration is through selecting a student who would be able to speak to those marginalized  and underrepresented communities here on campus and that is something that is being looked for in the student candidates,” said Garrett Wilbanks, executive aide to President Weinsz. 

Though itself the recipient of several  accusations of racism, CUSG is the same group that agreed to censure former CU president Mark Kennedy last year for comparing a future without strong online class offerings to a “trail of tears,” the federal government’s forced relocation of Indigenous people that killed thousands, including approximately 4,000 Cherokee.

The gaffe led Kennedy to resign from his position on July 1.

CUSG also voted to censure Kennedy for his inability to act on issues regarding diversity and inclusion. The legislative branch voted unanimously, but did not hold any power in selecting the student representatives that will be choosing the new president. 

Moving forward as elected officials and students 

Moving forward, current branch leaders have said they would like to mend their relationships, but little has been communicated with the public. Last fall, when asked how the tri-executive team would handle their current situation, vague statements were provided, they said they looked forward to making amends. 

And while the branches weren’t talking to the media, at least they were talking to each other.

Kannan, one third of the tri-executive team, noted that things were tense in October. 

“This is all new to us in different ways and we are navigating school on top of this,” she said. “You know, we struggle with the communication. We always have struggled with the communication but I think even more so now. It’s hard to know what is the right thing to do or the right thing to say across branches.” 

According to tri-executive Weinz, they were going to amend the chancellor’s agreement. As the only member of CUSG leadership to speak with the media following initial interviews in October, Weinz felt confident that the leaders would continue to come together to mend the relationship. 

Weinz said the tri-executives are working with CU administration to allow all CUSG leadership to be included in future chancellor’s agreement decisions. This is a significant change to the functionality of the organization, meaning the legislative strike last fall accomplished at least part of their goal. 

“There’s not one single individual in our organization that is complacent with where we’re at right now; we’re always striving to improve,” Weinz said he and his CUSG colleagues are looking forward to using the lessons they learned last fall in the spring session.

Rachel Hill, a lead member of the funding board that oversees funding of student organizations, is running for election as a tri-executive candidate on the Unity ticket. Part of the reason she is running is because she had a firsthand experience with the tensions last fall. 

“We’re still feeling the effects, it’s still a topic of conversation in the executive branch and legislative branch. It came from a historic rift between the branches and it’s going to continue to create a rift in the branches,” Hill said. “I think all the tickets running want there to be a better relationship between executive and legislative but because of this historic disconnect and this historic hatred between the branches, I don’t know if CUSG can ever get over it completely. And it’s not just because of what happened last fall, it’s been happening for years. It’s tough and it hurts students; we have such a big budget to use and so much power, it’s sad that we have used it to hurt students.” 

According to Crisol Corral, who took over as legislative council president after Sophia Khan’s term ended, things are slowly getting better. She has tried to make the legislative environment more friendly for elected officials.

Emily Huang, who is now the chief justice of the judicial branch, did not respond for comment regarding how this semester has been going within the judicial branch and between the other two branches. 

As discussions are slowly beginning to happen and the branches released statements regarding other campus issues, Carias wants to see the student leaders strengthen their communication and relationships so the University doesn’t continue to chip away at the historic strides previous students have made for student autonomy. 

He is calling for more participation from CU Boulder administration, including the Vice Chancellors, Katy Herbert Kotlarczyk and Sonia DeLuca Fernández, and others to care more about the student perspective and students’ stakes in budgetary concerns at their university.

Carias noted how CU’s student government is the most autonomous student government organization in the country, other campuses have smaller budgets and less power than CUSG does. 

“CUSG as a system is really, really unique. It’s the only one left in the country … and if we lose it, we’re never going to get it back,” Carias said. “Administration just chips away what they need every once in a while. Whatever students can do to rebuild this system, and really make it stand firm for another generation, is just so important.”

Originally reported for CU News Corps 

Additional reporting by Dawson Drew, Georgia Worrell