Josh Rapp is a junior political science major from Medford, Ore.
Oregon Daily Emerald: Tell the Emerald what your board or committee does and why it’s important?
Rapp: The EMU Board, what it does is, it makes decisions regarding all general policy and long-term plans for the EMU and allocates funds from a multi-million dollar budget and does things like designating office space to various student groups on campus.
Emerald: What are the most important issues facing the students you represent?
Rapp: One example of an important issue is the sound policy in the amphitheater outside the EMU. It’s important because there’s a group of students who want to use that space to speak out for their cause or have different bands come play at different events. But then there’s also a group of students who are concerned because they’re often distracted in class by the noise that’s created in the amphitheater. The EMU Board will make the decision as to what’s acceptable and what’s not as far as noise from that amphitheater goes. That’s one example of an important decision. Another is that, the EMU Board has been working on a 50 year plan for the EMU and that plan will basically dictate the future of the EMU for the next 50 years, and that’s a pretty important decision.
Emerald: What’s the most important issue facing the EMU programs and the EMU itself?
EMU programs?
Rapp: One problem, for example, that I see, is that there’s a significant number of student groups who would like to have office space in the EMU, and that space is just not available, so it’s pretty competitive and a lot of groups are kept out and kind of put at a disadvantage because that space is not available for them to have an office in the EMU.