From houses on College Hill to the Washington State Capitol, ASWSU has addressed numerous and varied topics in the past year.

ASWSU President Taylor Hennessey took the podium yesterday evening in the Goertzen Communication Addition to deliver his 2014 State of the Association address.

Regarding the overall success of his platform alongside ASWSU Vice President Kevin Massimino, Hennessey said he was generally pleased with the outcome of their efforts.

Among those efforts is the Cougar Housing Initiative, a plan in development that Hennessey said will provide educational outreach for students signing their first leases. He said many of the homes in Pullman are old or outdated, and students need a way to thoroughly consider their options. To achieve this, he said the ASWSU wants to develop a website similar to Rate My Professor that will enable open-source feedback on local residences.

ASWSU has also considered several options to lower the cost of textbooks. Hennessey said students have met with university administrators and Bookie staff to determine whether it’s possible to simplify the buying process. He said administrators can retain buy-back value by using only standard editions that each apply to several UCORE classes.

Hennessey commended the staff of the Bookie for their cooperation.

“They were really great partners in this,” he said.

Students might further reduce expenses if the ASWSU convinces the Student Recreation Center to allow two hours of free parking per visit, Hennessey said.

As for recent accomplishments, Hennessey expressed enthusiasm for the Student Veteran Center, which gained a permanent location in Holland Library in January with funding allocated by ASWSU.

“We’re the last in the Pac-12 to get a student veteran center,” Hennessey said, reminding his audience that the Pat Tillman Veterans Center at Arizona State University is roughly 40,000 square feet. He said it was only appropriate that WSU create something similar.

“This is something we needed to have, and there’s no longer any excuse for it,” he said.

Hennessey also recognized the Cougar Lobbying Team, a group of WSU students that traveled to Olympia to meet with state legislators.

In February, the team lobbied effectively for the Real Hope Act, a variant of the DREAM Act, which helps to provide financial aid for undocumented college students. Washington is the 18th state to enact such a law.

The bill that was passed in February in the ASWSU presidential elections, however, did not receive much comment from Hennessey.

“I didn’t really talk about the tobacco initiative at all, and I sort of did that on purpose,” Hennessey said.

Sponsors in the ASWSU senate said the bill, if passed, would outlaw all forms of tobacco use on the Pullman campus, but Hennessey said bureaucratic measures will slow the process of implementing policy change. He said various departments and faculty members have responded hesitantly to the bill and were not thoroughly consulted before it gained approval.

“It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ we’ll be able to do such a thing,” he said, expressing confidence that the ban will take effect within one or two years.

Job opportunities for graduating students are another issue on the horizon for the Hennessey administration. He said WSU is lacking in the number of internships and other positions available to seniors and graduate students, and plans are underway to develop hiring programs through the Center for Advising and Career Development and the College of Business.

“Something I can tell you is that Cougs hire Cougs,” he said.

Massimino said he and Hennessey have fulfilled most of the goals they created at the start of their term.

“I am extremely happy with what we’ve done this year,” he said. “We really crossed off most of the things we set off to do.”

ASWSU was named as the student association of the year by the United States Student Association.