Over the last few years ASIC has been unable to completely fulfill its role as a student representation organization since it lacked the connection to the student population. ASIC was seen as a service provider rather than the place to go when you run into difficulties. To tackle these problems, many steps need to be taken, the first one being, that ASIC would have to be known among the student population. In order to bring this about we decided to take a more active role in the introduction week, we are still trying to get time during the intro to Academia events , we try to be more present during the activities planned throughout the year and last but not least we introduced the student handbook

The first step has already been taken, this year ASIC’s presence during the introduction week was much more pronounced than in the years before. We participated in almost all the events that were organized and the two events we hosted ourselves (the yardsale and the movie night) were a huge success. First year students, although still not all and therefore enough, seem to be more aware of what ASIC does for them.

The second plan, on which we are still working, has to do with the introduction to academia events. During these events, all first years get together and they are lectured about what UC is, what Liberal Arts is, and, if we get a say in it, we will tell them what ASIC is. The advantage of getting time to speak during these events is that all first year students are present, the other lectures are often considered quite boring so if we manage to bring a good and upbeat presentation we can really get their attention and we will have enough time to actually explain what we do.

Visibility is something that cannot end at the end of the introduction week. Being visible throughout the year means that ASIC will try to be present at as many events as possible. To, just like all other students, participate in UCSA committees, to go to the plays on campus and to show our face at the debates. These events are ideal moments for students to start a conversation and to discuss their problems. The more of these interactions we have the clearer our image of the student population will be.

Lastly, we made the new student handbook. Although this year it was not clear from the cover that this was our project we will make sure that in future years we will get proper credit. As soon as students associate ASIC with a booklet full of useful information they might think of us as well when they run into problems to which they cannot find solutions in the booklet.