UA News

The Associated Students of the UA and the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership are working more closely than ever before.

Two University of Arizona student-oriented units are cross-pollinating in order to strengthen their programs and also save funds.

The Associated Students of the UA and the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership – once completely independent of one another – are now working more closely together.

“Given our economic times, everyone is lacking resources – that’s no surprise,” said ASUA President Tommy Bruce.

“There is a much stronger collaborative nature between ASUA and CSIL,” Bruce added. “We have to work together.”

It also means a number of changes have come.

ASUA now reports to Dan Adams, the associate vice president for Student Affairs and executive director of the Arizona Student Unions, and CSIL moved some of its staff to ASUA. Also, the University Activities Board will now fall under the purview of the student governing body.

The change affects also affects a number of programs as well as the more than 500 UA-recognized student clubs and organizations.

“Before it was up and down, but now the student organizations are all housed in the same office,” Bruce said.

The decision to work together more closely came before the UA’s Transformation Plan was announced. In fact, ASUA and CSIL, have been talking about developing a stronger bond since last year.

“Our office and ASUA had become very duplicative and redundant in the services, and it was particularly confusing for student organizations,” said Michelle Perez, CSIL director. “It created a big gap between the two programs (ASUA and CSIL) and we were probably not the most effective or efficient in serving our students.”

Several CSIL employees have become advisors at ASUA, Perez said. “What’s exciting is that now instead of having one full time professional advisor, ASUA now has a team of three people.”

Gallagher Theater also is seeing some changes.

While the campus theater will continue to show blockbuster films, Gallagher staff recently announced a new feature – “More than a Movie!” – which will focus on films that have a social justice orientation or were produced by students. The theater also introduced a new 1 p.m. matinee time on Sunday and will also begin showing free sneak previews of films not yet released to theaters.

Also, Gallagher has renewed its commitment to student filmmakers, and is now accepting submissions of both short and feature-length student works for public screenings, said Jill Burchell, a graduate student in the UA’s higher education program who manages the theater. Staff members at the theater have even begun making their own commercials, many of which are currently on YouTube.

Also new this year, Gallagher and CSIL partnered with the Honors College to introduce a film series that focuses on sustainability. Gallagher also partnered with the Women’s Resource Center to feature a series focusing on topics related to women’s issues. Burchell and others are planning Gallagher’s first Student Film Festival for the spring semester.

“They’re getting more play and more attention,” Perez said of the various units.