By: Aneyceia Brim
ASUPS is concerned with listening to the interests of students on campus.
Peyton Anstine, Director of Student Interests (DSI) is a member of the ASUPS executive office.
Historically, the DSI position was called Director of Sustainability and the position pertained to issues regarding sustainable practices on campus. Anstine’s predecessor, Austin Burningham, worked with the ASUPS executive team to revise the position to include student life as well as sustainability.
“If students have a particular problem or a project that interest them, they are more than welcome to come to my office,” Anstine said.
The DSI works as a liaison between the students and the administration and handles any conflicts that may arise between the two.
“[Student concerns] can be anything big, such as talking to security about issues that they are having to seeing if the [Student Union Building] will provide more bananas,” joked Anstine.
Listening to student concerns and complaints is a major component of Anstine’s responsibilities.
Anstine keeps the complaints confidential if necessary, and facilitates any meetings between faculty or staff and the student. The emphasis is placed on the student’s needs and it is up to the student what happens next.
“My position is here to support not only ASUPS, but to support the students as well,” Anstine said.
Anstine answers to the ASUPS president and vice president, and her job descriptions and tasks are defined and given by them.
Anstine also oversees the application process of both the Green Fee and the Expressions Fund. If chosen, the projects will be supported by grants and implemented throughout the semester. Applications can be found on the ASUPS website.
“My job is really cool in the sense that I basically just get to facilitate different student projects and see their ideas come to fruition. I feel like the best parts of my job haven’t even begun, which is exciting,” Anstine said.
Anstine also works on her projects as well. One project that she is very excited about implementing is one that she works on in conjunction with Director of Media Outreach, Tony Calabrese-Thomas.
The Expansion of Consciousness is a research page on the ASUPS website. Together Calabrese-Thomas and Anstine built it in the hopes of giving students the opportunity to challenge their thinking.
“The idea is that there is a bunch of links and descriptions to different mediums—so articles, documentaries, podcasts, scholarly and academic work, that surrounds really important topics,” Anstine said.
These topics include discrimination based on race, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and much more.
“It’s really just a way for people to educate themselves using these easily accessible resources. Honestly, these are really tough topics to tackle and deal with, so it just provides a safe space for people to answer some questions that they have,” Anstine said.
Anstine also welcomes students to come and talk to her if they have any questions about the page.
“There has also been a push towards administration to work on cultural competency and consciousness and being more aware. I believe that doing that means participating in conversations and sometimes those conversations don’t happen naturally, and they are a little bit difficult,” Anstine said.
The Expansion of Consciousness was created in order to give students the tools to engage in those types of conversations.
Kristen Lee, first-year student, is “grateful that this resource is implemented for the student’s benefit.”
“I think it really reinforces the school’s belief in supporting the students,” Lee said.