New Student Government President Nate Bronstein hopes to better connect to the AU community through his recently launched “fireside chat” video series.
Bronstein will be using the videos to answer student-submitted questions, give updates on SG initiatives and cover a range of upcoming SG events and programs.
He posted his first fireside chat video on YouTube Monday and will be posting a new video every two weeks throughout the summer. Bronstein plans to continue his fireside chat videos either once a week or every two weeks throughout the upcoming school year.
Bronstein said he came up with the idea for the fireside chat video series while thinking of ways to make the SG more accessible and transparent to students.
“I always thought that the Student Government would work a lot better if there was a way for the president to address the students more consistently and more directly,” Bronstein said in an e-mail.
The video had 106 views as of May 13 and is featured on the front page of the ausg.org website.
In his first video, Bronstein spoke briefly about AU Central, the Community Service Coalition and the SG’s search for a director of AU school spirit.
AU Central will be an AU office in charge of answering student questions regarding course registration and financial issues, The Eagle previously reported. The office will open July 1 and will combine the departments of Financial Aid, the Registrar and Student Accounts into one office.
The Community Service Coalition is a new SG Department that will work with the Community Service Center to provide resources for students wishing to organize community service projects, according to Bronstein. He brought the Coalition into the SG with an executive order signed May 10.
Stephen Bronskill, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, will act as director of the Coalition.
Bronskill received a $700 grant from the Eagle Endowment awards in April to start the Community Service Coalition. He will run the Coalition with a staff of 14 AU students.
At the end of the video, Bronstein said the SG is searching for the AU student with the most school pride via its “Head of Spirit” competition. Contestants must submit pictures and videos of themselves showing school spirit. The competition began on May 10 and will run until August 21, the Saturday before fall courses begin.
Whoever wins will become the SG’s director of Campus Unity and Spirit. The director will organize events and oversee various school spirit initiatives and groups on campus.
Bronstein said he will also be working on a number of other initiatives throughout the summer. He recently established the SG department of IDEAS, an acronym for the Initiative to Discover, Empower and Advocate for Students. This department will focus on connecting students with specific problems to AU administrators who can help find a solution.
Other initiatives Bronstein hopes to continue working on over the summer include the pursuit of an AU student Metro subsidy, the establishment of the Women's Resource Center this fall and an initiative to diversify eating options on campus.
Bronstein noted that these projects are just a sampling of the many programs the SG is developing over the summer.
“This is only a taste of what we're doing,” he said in the e-mail. “Everyone in the SG right now has made significant strides in expanding and improving their respective programs and departments.”
You can reach this staff writer at jryan@theeagleonline.com.
