ASUM bulks up sexual assault resources

The student senate voted Wednesday to expand campus programs offering support to women and victims of sexual assault.

Associated Students of The University of Montana President Jenifer Gursky and Sen. Mariah Williams authored a bill that will improve campus safety by beefing up the Women's Resource Center and the Student Assault Resource Center. They hope by directly funding the programs, in addition to possibly adding an extra staff position and collaborating with other interested parties, that the environment on campus will improve after numerous reports of sexual assault.

"There are a lot of significant opportunities for ASUM to respond to our students' needs," Gursky said.

ASUM also passed a bill that requires online campaigning for ASUM elections be held to the same restrictions as any sort of physical campaign. Sen. Suzuki said the goal of the bill was to avoid an instance where a student became disqualified for not having clear guidelines for what they can and can't do.

"This is simply adding in a subsection saying that online campaigning — Facebook, Twitter and social media — are held to the same restrictions regarding time, spending and contributions as any sort of physical campaign," Suzuki said.

Also, UM's French Club, "Le Cercle Francophone," received $573 of the $1125 they requested to stage their annual film festival, which is a five day film series held at the UC Theatre.

"It brings in a lot of people from the community. It's been a perennial thing for a very long time," said Luke Sims, ASUM business manager.

jacob.mchugh@umontana.edu