This month, the AUSU student council was focused on going through the list of committees, evaluating which committees reflect the interests of AUSU, and eliminating dormant or unnecessary ones, since many committees currently overlap their purposes. (As one student council member aptly put it, “if we don’t know what committees are out there, how do the students know what committees are out there?!”) The council diligently went through each committee, and discussed its relevance to AUSU (Academic committee, handbook committee, and so forth.) Numerous older committees were dissolved as they were no longer active.
Next up on the agenda, the student council is happy to present new scholarship opportunities, such as financial aid, academic achievement, student service, and more. Information has already been posted on the AUSU website — if you’d like more information on eligibility and application procedures, you can find the new scholarship information at [http://ausu.org/services/scholarships.php].
With modern Internet providing everything from grocery shopping to distance education, submitting online credit card information is a standard procedure for many of us today- we use the Web when paying bills and bank account balances, not to mention that pesky eBay habit! But we’re all concerned when it comes to the privacy and safety of our credit card numbers, and AUSU is no exception. Each council member had an opinion to offer when the topic of introducing Paypal or a credit card merchant account to the AU site came up. When it comes to paying tuition fees online, or buying AU merchandise, the council had to make a decision on payment methods, and it came down to credit card versus Paypal debate. Council members were very much concerned with protecting students from fraud and credit card abuse, and even cited money orders as an option. One member pointed out that the council should probe students’ interest for AU merchandise ideas, since there are only a couple of online orders per month, there is no real need for a Paypal system at this point in time. The marketing committee volunteered to advertise and promote AUSU sales, and a motion was passed to stick to Visa/Mastercard payments, money orders, and phone-in methods of payment until further notice. (ed. AUSU should be equipped to accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express over the phone within three weeks).
