From voicing opinions on campus initiatives to advocating for changes to their own program, students have more sway in shaping academic life than they might realize. That is, in part, what the Associated Students Director of Academic Affairs position is set up to help with.
There are two candidates for the position, Chase Weiland and Adin White. Voting begins Wednesday and ends Thursday.
The Director of Academic Affairs sits on several committees, such as the Board of Directors, the Government Affairs Committee, the Academic Senate and serves as chair of the Student Academic Senate.
Weiland, a sophomore majoring in agricultural communications, is currently the senator for the College of Agriculture. He said that he took the role to be more involved in his college and work collaboratively to make improvements. But once he started, he has had the opportunity to participate in a variety of other opportunities, such as the Academic Senate.
“I think what I really bring to the role is my past experience in not only government affairs, but being a senator and sitting on the Academic Senate has given me this bridge between two very distinct worlds of student life and the faculty version,” he said.
He is currently one of three students who sit on the governing body, which is a critical component of shared governance and program changes at the university. The other two are the current Director of Academic Affairs, Kureha Takayama and Adin White.
White, a graduate student studying public administration, is a familiar face within student leadership. He has experience as the Commissioner of Sustainability and ran for AS President last year. While he didn’t win the presidency, he took an opportunity to sit on the Academic Senate, where he used a hard-headed approach to fighting against system-wide initiatives, such as ChatGPT Edu and the Time, Place and Manner of Expression policy. He has also worked in leadership for numerous clubs on campus, as well as advocating on behalf of the California Faculty Union at the state capitol.
Weiland said he wanted to give more of a voice to underrepresented students, something that Takayama set the groundwork for. During her tenure, she worked to give undeclared students a voice within the student government.
“It was a sentiment that if the student voice isn’t being heard, we need to realize where the issues are currently and how we can better advocate for the future,” he said about Takayama.
He believes there are many underrepresented majors that could benefit from these initiatives.
“Majors are still going in a unique perspective, but they’re not necessarily fighting on campus for their voice to be heard,” Weiland said. He sees it as his responsibility if he steps into the director role to bring those voices into leadership, or at least, leadership decisions.
White also commended Takayama for that initiative.
“Getting people from diverse swatches of the community, going to the office of tribal relations, the CCLC, affinity centers, pride, and making sure people from those places are also equally excited to be at the Senate Academic Senate,“ he said.
College senators are the voices of the student body within a college. That’s why both Weiland and White are looking to improve accountability and efficiency for the role. Both candidates want senators to engage more with their constituents.
“I want them to feel excited about this,” White said. “I feel like they realize they can be part of this change and they can feel empowered in their positions.”
Weiland expressed how important it was to him that senators get up to speed on past initiatives, advocacy and work that has been done by their predecessors.
“That way senators have something to go off of to gear their work, and I can also guide them to places where they can further guide their work,” Weiland said.
He also wants to bridge a gap between students and the deans, something he said would help students achieve the change that they want to see within their own college.
In Weiland’s time as senator, he said he worked hard to make sure his constituents always had an opportunity to become involved.
“I had a weekly email in the College of Ag, where we put in all AS and campus events, all jobs and internships, and all the committees they could possibly sit on,” he said.
Weiland believes senators should build a team that could sit on other committees to enact change.
“I think that’s what we’re losing right now is these senators think it all falls on them,” he said. “And instead, I think we really need to look at how we can expand the team beyond these seven senators.”
White also did something similar during his time as commissioner. He brought on what he called “auxiliary members.” He plans to immediately begin reaching out to campus partners in the Academic Senate and leadership, as well as students, to hear their diverse perspectives on what they want changed.
White wants to make people excited about is the student government and the changes that can be made.
“The pitch has to be, think not about the Student Academic Senate right now, as you’ve come to know it, and think instead of what it could be,” he said.
He wants to accomplish that change by changing the structure of the committees and the duties of senators. He also wants to spend less time in meetings receiving reports that aren’t actionable for either the committee or students.
Both candidates see structural issues within the way the student government is run. Weiland wants to work with senators to see how he can best support them with their work. White wants to work harder to engage the campus community against “unilateral decisions” being made by administrators or the Chancellor’s Office.
On Wednesday, every Chico State student will receive an email with a link to the ballot. The link will also be available here on its website. You will need to sign in with your Chico State login to access the ballot.
Chris Hutton can be reached at [email protected]
