Briefly speaking: Meet the new student body leaders

UC Davis students Joe Chatham of Occidental and Chris Dietrich of Davis represent your students. As the newly elected leaders of the Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD), they oversee an undergraduate student government with a $10-million budget, hundreds of employees and a small city of services.

Chatham, the ASUCD president, and Chris Dietrich, vice president, took office in March following a February election.

“Every student pays to make student government happen,” said Chatham, a third-year student majoring in international relations with an emphasis in East Asian studies. “It’s designed to improve their experiences on campus,” he said. “But too many students don't take advantage of the opportunities of being involved with ASUCD — we want to change that.”

Chatham and Dietrich, a third-year student majoring in political science, ran as independents to lead one of the largest student-run organizations in the country. Although the ASUCD formally represents about 24,000 undergraduates, it impacts the campus and beyond with services including the Unitrans bus service, the Coffee House, the Bike Barn and Experimental College. The organization employs about 1,500 students.

Chatham and Dietrich both served as ASUCD senators last year and realized they share similar visions and goals. They are now responsible for representing UC Davis students to the administration, city and state.

Dietrich has worked hard to establish additional covered bike parking for the rainy season, to provide access to more bike pumps, and to set aside more space for group study rooms on campus. He also served on the advisory team that helped identify student e-mail needs and move student accounts to the Gmail service with additional features and account space.

Chatham has focused much of his energy on spreading wireless Internet access across campus. Students can now get online access in Giedt and Wellman halls, and Chatham is currently working with the administration to bring access to three large lecture halls and the outdoor areas around the Silo and Science Laboratory Building.

As a freshman, Chatham became interested in sustainability and is working to increase money available to students to initiate sustainability projects. “I would like to see undergrads take a bigger role in our goal of being a zero-waste campus by 2020,” Chatham said.

Another area where Chatham would like to avoid waste is in the $10 million ASUCD budget. Most of the annual budget is spent on Unitrans and the Coffee House. But with ASUCD budget cuts looming, both Chatham and Dietrich want to ensure that the funds are being put to the most productive use.