Friday’s Undergraduate Student Government Downtown meeting focused on initiatives to improve students’ experiences at athletic events, as well as using ASU transportation.
The 2015 football season comes with plenty of changes, including WiFi access points in Sun Devil Stadium.
“If WiFi is not working at the first game it is not because we don’t have it, it’s just because they’re working out all the kinks when thousands and thousands of students flood all of the access points,” USGD President Corina Tapscott said. “We should have WiFi at our games so we’re able to engage more with the game and we’re very excited about it.”
Additionally, USGD is planning to meet with the representatives of the Sun Devil Athletics Operations Advisory Board to discuss implementing a ticketing booth downtown. This would allow downtown students to avoid long hours of waiting before the game at the Wells Fargo Arena.
The stadium is still under construction, but the decision was made to keep the stadium open for the convenience of the students, Tapscott said.
“We thought it was the best [decision] seeing that students will be able to go to their same stadium as well as see their stadium improve as they go along instead of traveling to a new stadium if they want to enjoy the games,” Tapscott said.
The stadium renovations allow it to be used 24/7 to any student organizations that would like to take advantage of it.
“If there are any student organizations who want to meet there, if the PAB wants to do a movie night on the field, if they want to do a big welcome event there, they are open to any ideas you have,” Tapscott said.
The Programs and Activities Board has a potential budget of $116,000 and plans to use some of the money toward upcoming projects like Devils on Mill, where Mill Avenue shuts down three hours before every home game.
“We have vendors and lots of local music and lots of local food,” Rebecca Smouse, PAB president, said. “We have free food for all ASU students, all you got to do is bring your ASU ID card and you get a lot of free swag a lot of free cool stuff.”
Along with initiatives to improve students’ game day experience, USGD discussed ways to improve students’ transit experience. The Sun Devil Express, a downtown trolley, began making trips to Safeway Aug. 20.
The USGD had a potential budget of $37,950 for the trolley but came in under budget at $36,000, according to Jackson Dangremond, USGD’s director of finance.
USGD is tracking the number of riders and the popularity of the trolley at certain times to ensure if the investment is worth keeping it running by supplying drivers with an iPad to record riders.
“I was elected on the platform that we want to empower student’s words and so essentially we as the BAC (Budget Allocations Committee), and I as the director of finance, serve as the gatekeepers for the student fee’s money,” Dangremond said. “It is the students’ money and we want to make sure that every dollar we give back goes to improving someone’s life here at ASU.”
Contact the reporter at Melanie.Whyte@asu.edu.
