ISU Bengal

Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Storee Powell Katie Anderson, ASISU Vice President for the Idaho Falls campus, said there wasn't enough focus on satellite campuses and has been lobbying for more funding.

Katie Anderson, ASISU Vice President for the Idaho Falls campus, has been lobbying for increased funding for the satellite location, and has met with some success. According to her, however, there is still more work to be done.

Anderson said that the sixteen percent of the students at ISU are Idaho Falls students previously received only eight percent of the budget.

"The main goal I wanted to accomplish was to reorganize the ASISU budget to make it more equitable for students," Anderson said. "We've made a huge advance in receiving $8,000 in contingency funding. This means we now receive twelve percent of the budget, and hopefully we can get the other four percent before the year is up."

Anderson said this will be used as an incentive for Idaho Falls clubs to become more active on campus, and that they will be asked to use it to aid fundraising. Also, the funding will be put towards more free food for students, concerts and for advertising, since Idaho Falls doesn't have its own graphic arts equipment.

Another important thing Anderson said she has accomplished was to make the stipends of Idaho Falls board members match that of their Pocatello counterparts.

"They put in the same number of hours, and meet the same requirements as Pocatello members, so they should receive the same stipends," Anderson said. "Idaho Falls is important to ISU, and student government plays a huge role in its success."

Anderson said she and her administration are working to increase student tuition by $2, which she said would help make the budget more equitable. This money would be used for things such as bettering the student health center in Idaho Falls.

"As of now, there are no walk-ins, hours are poor, and it is just inaccessible to students, and shouldn't be," Anderson said. Anderson said she also wants to get free legal counseling offered in Idaho Falls.

"We are collaborating as a cabinet to work at these issues in a constructive way, and we have definitely made progress," Anderson said.

Recently, the ASISU Senate allotted $60,000 in funding to KISU, the University radio station. The money comes from the $184,000 contingency fund available for all ISU line item organizations. Anderson said that she feels the money allotted to KISU could be put to better use, however.

"KISU is a great program, but it has an average audience of less than 300 a day, and to benefit ISU as a whole, it would be better to bring that funding to Idaho Falls," Anderson said. "The senate can give this to who they please, and in order to get any, we need senate support."

Along with the progress in making a more equitable budget for Idaho Falls, Anderson said they have also contributed back to the community, such as raising $6,000 at a benefit dinner for the Idaho Meth Project last semester. "We need to continue to transcend the communication gap between Pocatello and IF," Anderson said. "There is just not enough emphasis on the role of satellite campuses."

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