Students United Podcast

Our officers sit down to discuss advocacy efforts with three students Kaleen Kruger, Minnesota State University Moorhead Student Body President and our Board Member; Kale Hennek, Bemidji State University student; and Ben Ellgen, Winona State University student. During the recording of this podcast, Students United brought students from all seven Minnesota State universities to Saint Paul to advocate on a student-passed state legislative agenda. These three students attended the Advoacay Day and were willing to sit down and discuss why it was important to them, and to also give advice to fellow students who are thinking about becoming more civically involved.

Enjoy this special edition podcast episode that features our State Chair Faiçal Rayani and Board Member Kayla Shelley. At each Minnesota State Board of Trustees meeting our State Chair testifies, at the latest meeting Rayani invited Shelley to testify with him. Shelley thanked the Trustees for passing the affirmative consent policy and articulated the impact this policy will have on students. Shelley's testimony encaptures much of the passion and reasoning behind why our organization has fought for this policy. Our next step is to begin educating students on the new policy.

This month, our State and Vice Chairs sit down with two past scholarship recipients, Elijah Norris-Holliday and Ben Reimler. They discuss how their scholarships have helped them become better well-rounded students. Also, for more scholarship information our hosts also sit down with Students United's Director of Development, Carlee Diggins.

We are excited to release this episode, as students have been working hard to advocate on affirmative consent this year. As an organization we have focused on sexual assault prevention for several years now. This episode, our officers sit down with Representative Erin Murphy and St. Cloud State University board member Kayla Shelley to discuss the work of affirmative consent at Minnesota State and the state legislature. We also introduce a new game called Ding Dong Your Wrong, which debunks common misconceptions about affirmative consent. 

This episode Lexi and Faiçal talk with three different people about food inequity and the work that is being done to combat it at our Minnesota State universities. The first interview was with the System Director for Student Development & Student Services, Paul Shepherd, who discusses what is being done at the system level around this issue. The other two interviews are with students, Heather Moenck (Metropolitan State University) and Alison Bettin (Winona State University) who discuss initiatives on their own campuses. Make sure to listen! 

Faiçal and Lexi sat down with the new chancellor of Minnesota State, Devinder Malhotra. They discussed what his role is at Minnesota State, his journey to all universities and colleges, the new Chief Diversity Officer, and what he sees as important for Minnesota State moving forward. Faiçal and Lexi had a great time interviewing the chancellor and hopes all of you enjoy hearing from Chancellor Malhotra as well! 

Our State Chair and Vice Chair sit down with the Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon during this podcast. They discuss voter registration, outreach, and engagement in Minnesota. Simon explains how Minnesota regained its number one spot for voter turnout in 2016 and our officers get answers to common voting questions many students have. Make sure to listen to the entire podcast, as Faical and Lexi also sit down with our Director of Campus Organizing to discuss Students United's voter outreach efforts that took place on National Voter Registration Day.

Our State Chair Faiçal Rayani and Vice Chair Lexi Byler sat down with former State Chair Cara Luebke and our first Director of Equity & Inclusion Abeer Syedah. Listen to the person who started our organization down the path of creating a full-time Director of Equity & Inclusion staff position and the first person to step into this new role explain what this position means to them and how important they see the work of equity and inclusion is for all students. 

This episode introduces our new State Chair Faiçal Rayani and Vice Chair Lexi Byler. These two sit down for an informal conversation about their goals for the year, sports, growing up, and school. Make sure to listen!

In Joe's last week as state chair, he sits down with our Director of Communications Aly Hagglund to discuss some of the year's highlights. He gives a final piece of advice to students before saying "SUP" one last time. 

This month's podcast State Chair Joe Wolf sits down with our Government Relations Intern Maddy Wegener, former State Chair Cara Luebke and our Director of Programs and Alumni Outreach Carlee Diggins to discuss how alumni can stay involved with our organization once they graduate. 

This month our State Chair Joe Wolf had the opportunity to sit down with our Treasurer Sean Duckworth and our Director of System and Government Relations to discuss Minnesota State. If you have ever been curious about what Minnesota State is, how it functions, or Students United's relationship with the system, this is a great listen! 

In this episode, State Chair Joe Wolf sits down with Executive Director Elsbeth Howe to learn about Students United's Governing Documents and our budget.  ** Since this episode was recorded the Board passed a 4 cent increase to our current $.043 per credit fee.

April Delegates Conference has a lot happening for students. There are officer elections and student platform changes to be created and passed. To best prepare you for the conference, State Chair Joe Wolf and Director of Campus Organizing Justin Reuter sit down to discuss the April Delegates Conference and what you can expect for the weekend. 

Our State Chair Joe Wolf sits down with Carlee Diggins, our Director of Programs and Alumni Outreach to discuss the scholarships students can apply for this year. We have several new scholarships and our Penny Scholarship Program is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. If you are interested in applying make sure to listen and apply by April 1st!

Each year, students draft a state and federal legislative agenda for the organization. In this episode, State Chair Joe Wolf sits down with Sarah Berns, our Director of System and Government Relations, to discuss our legislative agendas and how they are created.

Each year our students chose new issue campaigns for our organization to focus on. This year, we are focused on voter outreach, sexual violence prevention, retention and college affordability. 

We have begun our strategic planning process, which will result in a student-driven strategic plan that will carry Students United through 2020.

To learn more about our 2016 Fall Delegates Conference, listen to the podcast!

This is our first Students United Podcast. You can expect more to come! Over the next several months, we will cover a variety of topics giving our listeners a chance to learn more about our organization.