ASWSU confirmed two vacant positions on the election board committee and heard from the University Affairs Department at this week’s senate meeting.

The first nominee, Kendal Walls, senior business finance major, said she desires to get more involved with her peers at WSU, she said. She is hoping to encourage students to vote and recognizes the importance of students exercising their right to vote for student government. Walls was elected to the position unanimously.

The second nominee, junior biology major Laralye Check said she has a desire to become more involved with ASWSU and learn more about the way that the student body operates. While Check has not previously been involved in student government, she is very passionate about student involvement and engagement on campus, Check was also elected to the position unanimously.

Senators also heard progress updates from the two representatives from the University Affairs Department, including University Affairs Director Sophie Kirov, and Kassandra Vogel, Deputy Director of Sustainability. Kirov said because they have just returned from break, the University Affairs Department does not have many updates.

Vogel said the sustainability task force held its first student experience subcommittee meeting which was very productive.

“It’s really exciting because we have a variety of people that are sitting on that subcommittee,” she said. “There’s administrators, staff, there’s some professors, and we have three undergraduate students and grad students sitting on that committee.”

Vogel said she believes it is important for students to be on the subcommittee because the committee is focused on sustainability in regards to student experiences on campus. She is currently in the process of securing funding for an event with Bill Nye as a guest, and hopes to hold the event at the end of April.

“Right now we have a total raised of $63,000 from 12 different sponsors,” she said. “But we still have about $6,000 left to raise, so that’ll be my primary focus in the next couple of weeks.”

After securing funding for the Bill Nye event, Vogel said she will begin planning for Earth week events later this semester.

Finally, Vice President Maccabee Werndorf said that himself and President Luke Deschenes met up with representatives from Cougar Safe Rides, a volunteer-run program created by the Women*s Center.

Werndrof said the program has been struggling to keep up with its current size, as the program is now too big for the Women*s Center to run on their own with funding from S&A fees, Werndorf said, and it is likely that they will need to be funded by a student-run initiative in future years. Representatives from Cougar Safe Rides have been asked to present their cause to the senate sometime within the next month.

ASWSU meets every at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in CUB 204.