Fellow Students,
First, we would like to extend a warm welcome to all incoming freshmen and transfer students.

It is with great excitement that we welcome you to your new home. You are entering a community that is dynamic, compassionate, and innovative. It is a community that is devoted to addressing the important issues of our time, surmounting bigotry and division, and, ultimately, changing the world. We are proud to have you join us in this collective effort, and look forward to seeing all you will accomplish during your time at Oregon State University, and beyond.

We would also like to welcome all returning students back to OSU. Having spent the last few months on campus, we have become all-too familiar with the tranquility of a Corvallis summer. We are more than ready to have campus return to its natural, vibrant state. The students of OSU are what make Corvallis the best college town in the PAC-12–and, in our unbiased opinion, the world.

For those who are returning, you may recall the guest column we wrote in the Daily Barometer at the end of last year. In that column, we discussed three primary goals for the summer: improving the ASOSU website; facilitating the introduction of a ridesharing ordinance to Corvallis; and, finally, developing a comprehensive agenda for the academic year. We are happy to share that we have successfully followed through on these goals.

The ASOSU website–while still imperfect–has been tailored to be more user-friendly, easily updatable, and accessible. Moving forward, we will continue to enhance the website, providing an interface that has consistently updated congressional meeting minutes, a list of all administrative committee and congressional vacancies, and resources for students to learn more about the OSU budgeting process.

We are also proud to announce that Uber and Lyft officially launch their services on September 19th, offering students practical alternatives to SafeRide, and avenues for the city of Corvallis to be made more accessible, to all. Testimony to the City of Corvallis, correspondence with the public affairs directors of Uber and Lyft, and student voice played an integral role in bringing these services to our city. It is a testament to the power of students that ridesharing has finally been adopted.

Finally, in terms of producing agenda items for the academic year, we are excited to unveil several initiatives that will be unfolding in the coming months. In partnership with a third-party organization, we are producing a web portal that contains a comprehensive listing of all off-campus housing vacancies, and methods of contacting associated landlords and property management companies. This is a service not currently provided by the city of Corvallis, or by OSU. Our aim is to have this initiative completed by January, when the search for housing begins to escalate.

In addition, we believe it important to advertise that ASOSU will be sponsoring monthly town hall meetings. The first of these meetings will be located in the Student Involvement Lounge of the Student Experience Center, Thursday, October 5th, at 5pm. These town halls will be largely informal, but one agenda item to be aware of on October 5th is a discussion regarding the redrafting of the ASOSU Constitution.

Again, we look forward to the year ahead, and are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such a wonderful student body. Our ultimate goal is to improve the student experience at OSU, and to serve as advocates for all students. Indeed, ASOSU is every student at Oregon State University. Together, let’s effect positive, meaningful change.

Simon Brundage,

ASOSU President

Radhika Shah,
ASOSU Vice President