Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the dates of “Empowerment Hour,” which will occur this year, and the “Out of the Darkness Walk” which will occur in April 2024.
In the span of one year, Carissa O’Donnell and Dakota Canzano have gone from strangers getting coffee to working together as president and vice president of Associated Students of Oregon State University.
Since their inauguration in June, O’Donnell and Canzano have accomplished a multitude of projects that have all benefited students throughout the campus, and they plan to continue that through the rest of the school year.
“Sometimes student government is not as transparent or accessible as it could be,” Canzano said. “That was our goal this year, was just bridging that gap to make sure students are aware of the resources that currently exist as well as incorporation new resources to meet different students and their identity based needs.”
“I think we’re changing the scope of student government on campus,” O’Donnell said. “We’re trying to spread our roots as far as we can so that students know that we’re here to help.”
This comes in many forms; being active on campus, attending administrative meetings, following social media trends to relate with students, among others.
“(We are) meeting students at the communication methods that are convenient for them, rather than having them come to seek us out,” O’Donnell said. “In my email signature now you can book a meeting with me. Then we can meet and we can just hang out.”
O’Donnell said that being friends with students is something that she wants. She doesn’t want anyone to feel that they can’t come up to either her or Canzano.
“It’s a bittersweet realization that we only have a year in these positions because it gives us a deadline,” O’Donnell said.
In the six months that they have been in office, they have created homes for students on campus, and expanded their reach.
Last year, Canzano advocated for the student athlete administration to hire a full time psychologist, not only for the benefit of the athletes, but also to allow more students to be able to access Counseling and Psychological Services.
Canzano and O’Donnell have advocated for more events with CAPS since then, including a Speed Friending event that allowed hundreds of students to connect to others in the school.
O’Donnell and Canzano have also worked tirelessly to create an ‘Empowerment Hour’ to make beginners at Dixon feel more welcome. This will begin this year.
Canzano is also helping plan the Out of Darkness Walk this April to promote suicide prevention.
They noted that the ASOSU Queer Advocacy Coordinator has done so much this year. They have been in meetings with the Office of Institutional Diversity to introduce gender neutral spaces to buildings on campus.
One of their main priorities was communal advocacy and equity. In line with that, they have two pilot lounges, an international student lounge, in Memorial Union Room 62, and a disabled student lounge in Snell 150.
Their goal as president and vice president was to give every student a voice on OSU’s campus, and to do that, they felt that everyone should have a community.
“We feel really humbled,” Canzano said. “People came to this campus because they wanted to feel a sense of community. What can we do to make them feel like they belong?”
O’Donnell felt the same when reflecting on the first half of her term, “When a student chooses to come to OSU, they’re choosing this place to be their temporary home,” O’Donnell said.
