The new ASWSU president and vice president were elected into office last night and the Chinook fee increase was passed.
Tania Henriques was elected president of ASWSU and Brian Kim was elected vice president of ASWSU.
Henriques said that she’s super excited to become president because she’s been wanting to be ASWSU president since she was called over to the ASWSU table at a block party event her freshman year.
She was a student representative for the state of Hawaii, representing her high school. She thought that there would be more people running against her, but is happy that she ran unopposed and is now president, she said.
“It’s gonna be my last year in college and as vice president, I’ve been in ASWSU afor the last three years, so I am excited to work on transportation, parking prices especially because there’s a decrease in availability and I just wanna ensure representation for all student here on campus,” Kim said.
Kim said he did not get elected as vice president during his senior year of high school, so he was happy when he was elected freshman delegate at WSU and eventually worked his way up to vice president.
The Chinook fee increase also passed last night with 88% of votes being in favor of the fee.
According to the Chinook Fee Increase Initiative website for the fee to pass, there needs to be more than 20% of undergraduate students to submit ballots, and half of the votes need to be in favor of the fee increase for it to pass.
The fee increase is to ensure the current hours of operation at the Chinook stay the same, maintain student employment, offer programs and spaces to students and assist in covering bond payments, according to the website.
The Chinook in past years has dealt with the repercussions of declining fee collections and if the fee allocation were to not pass, WSU would see the Chinook cut hours, close the eSports lounge, reduce student jobs, deferral maintenance project and continue closures over the summer months, according to the website.
“Today I couldn’t be more proud to be student body president for Washington State University and you all should be proud to come together…to support each other” current ASWSU president Luke Deschenes said.
