ASUO held an open forum on Feb. 14 in the EMU for students the to ask questions about its work as well as the functions of ASUO called the ASUO First Assembly. The First Assembly was proposed by Senate President Isaiah Boyd in order to act on his campaign platform of transparency through student body interaction.

According to Boyd, roughly 15 to 20 individuals attended the first assembly. Boyd said there were plenty of learning experiences for ASUO to draw from in the future. The first one Boyd outlined was advertising and outreach surrounding the event. According to Boyd, this was a field that the executive branch was responsible for.

“In all honesty, I didn’t expect a huge turnout,” Boyd said. “Advertising didn’t really follow through. Executive was charged with that part of it but I know they were really busy at the time. I could have done more on my part too.”

Boyd made it a mission to create opportunities for the student body to interact with ASUO officials. The ASUO First Assembly was the first attempt of many to come, according to Boyd.

“I ran on transparency last year through my election, I was committed to maintaining that,” Boyd said. “I think transparency is only as good as the action that you do behind it. You can’t just say ‘oh, I’m transparent now,’ and then not do anything.”

The second thing that Boyd wants to change in the future is the format of events like this one. Boyd was not satisfied with the format, stating that in the future, he would like to change it into a more informal “fun event where students can get free food.” Boyd does not intend on bringing back the panel format.

Finally, Boyd believes there is a need for ASUO to “pick up the steam” when it comes to ASUO notoriety. According to Boyd, he believes a large part of the apathy towards the ASUO First Assembly stemmed from students not understanding what ASUO is.

“It’s disappointing, but I think it’s more on [ASUO] rather than on students’ parts,” Boyd said. “They shouldn’t have to go out of their way to be informed, we should be able to offer the information readily.”

In Fall term, an event similar to the ASUO First Assembly was hosted by the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee. This was organized after the Athletics department requested a $35,000 increase in their agreement with the ACFC.

“I tried to improve how we interact with the student body,” said Cynthia Aguilar-Arizmendi, who organized that forum. “[The Athletics forum] was my attempt to try and bring people to the table and talk about [the increase in spending].”

According to Aguilar, the similarities between the ASUO first assembly and the Athletics forum spurred from an upward trend of transparency from ASUO officials to the student body.

“They were two separate forums organized by two different officials with the intent on being more interactive and transparent with the student body,” Aguilar said.