February 5, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Written by: Sadie Latimer | News Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Associated Students of Western \u2014 ASWOU \u2014 is Western\u2019s official student government. It is run by students, for students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ASWOU is extremely active on campus, representing students\u2019 interests and needs, overseeing clubs, putting together programs on campus and ensuring that students have their voices heard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ASWOU President Brenda Rocio Martinezis a fourth-year student at Western, double majoring in communications and public policy and administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy role is (mainly) representing students in general and having their best interest in mind,\u201d Rocio Martinez said. As a student herself, Rocio Martinez is always looking for ways to support her peers. \u201cWe always like to put our ear to the ground and see (what students want and need.)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ASWOU not only supports individual students but student clubs as well. Joining a club is how Rocio Martinez first got involved on campus, followed by her becoming a justice in the judicial branch of ASWOU. After that, she was ASWOU\u2019s director of PR, then, finally, the president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rocio Martinez knows the importance of getting involved through clubs on campus, so she strives to make sure the clubs have the resources, training and support they need. One of her goals is to allow the clubs to collaborate and connect with each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just want to be able to serve students,\u201d Rocio Martinez said. \u201cWe are student-funded, so we’re here for (students).\u201d ASWOU is funded by the IFC \u2014 Incidental Fee Committee. Students pay a set amount as part of their tuition and fees, which goes towards several student activities on campus, including but not limited to ASWOU, student media, Abby\u2019s House, WOLF Ride, athletics, campus recreation, childcare and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every person involved in ASWOU is dedicated to making their fellow students\u2019 voices heard. \u201cPeople in higher positions like faculty and staff are wanting the students\u2019 perspective, and ASWOU can give that perspective,\u201d Rocio Martinez said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cElections should be coming pretty soon for anyone who wants my position in the future. And I will say this: it’s not hard, it’s fun,\u201d Rocio Martinez said. She loves getting to be more involved in her community as ASWOU president. According to Rocio Martinez, the position has helped her become a better leader. It has also been helpful for her field of study and will likely apply to the career path she wishes to follow. ASWOU elections will begin at the start of spring term. For students who wish to run for election, applications open March 8. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ASWOU has weekly public meetings on Fridays in the Calapooia room of the Werner University Center. The executive branch of ASWOU holds their meeting at 12 p.m. and the senate meets at 2 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judicial branch\u2019s meetings are not weekly, instead they are held \u201cwhen there\u2019s work to do,\u201d Rocio Martinez said. \u201cThat entails rules being broken by any clubs or any students, if there are any concerns or if people just want an interpretation of a law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For students who have concerns, comments or questions, an ASWOU senate meeting is the place to be. The senate focuses on things such as bylaws, getting involved with the clubs they oversee and the needs of students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If students have large concerns, they can fill out an ASWOU student feedback form, which goes to the senate. The form is located on the student portal under the My Programs tab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rocio Martinez knows how difficult it is to advocate for every student, which is why it is important for students to bring their concerns and feedback to ASWOU\u2019s attention. A community thrives when everyone supports each other and works together to make positive changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe ensure that students are well represented if they feel anything should change,\u201d Rocio Martinez said. \u201cChange comes with many people. It takes a village to make true change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contact the author at howlnews@mail.wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
February 5, 2025 Written by: Sadie Latimer | News Editor The Associated Students of Western \u2014 ASWOU \u2014 is Western\u2019s official student government. It is run by students, for students. ASWOU is extremely active on campus, representing students\u2019 interests and needs, overseeing clubs, putting together programs on campus and ensuring that students have their voices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1535,108,245,5825,1178,1832,5827,1604,5829,5019,2475,5823,1487,5826,427,5832,5828,144,5822,5820,507,5783,5831,623,3924,5821,5824,2172,422,3761,3472,3013,424,687,5830,982,3291,2165,684,3899],"class_list":["post-22223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-abbys-house-2","tag-aswou","tag-athletics","tag-bylaws","tag-campus","tag-campus-recreation","tag-childcare","tag-clubs","tag-comments","tag-communications","tag-community","tag-concerns","tag-elections","tag-executive-branch","tag-faculty","tag-feedback","tag-funding","tag-ifc","tag-judicial-branch","tag-leadership","tag-oregon","tag-positive-changes","tag-pr-director","tag-president","tag-programs","tag-public-meetings","tag-public-policy-and-administration","tag-questions","tag-resources","tag-rules","tag-senate","tag-staff","tag-student-government","tag-student-media","tag-student-portal","tag-students","tag-support","tag-training","tag-western","tag-wolf-ride"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22229,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22223\/revisions\/22229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}