ASUR Social Affairs was the organization in charge of hosting campus-wide events. Though not directly linked to the student government, it was one of the two halves of ASUR. This meant that planning came down to a limited group of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne Cabinet position [in ASUR] was the director of Social Affairs, and that person helped work with a few of the administrators in this office along with some student staff to host various events on campus,\u201d former ASUR President Derrick Ball \u201924 shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were weekly meetings and opportunities for students to share their ideas, but it usually came down to the Cabinet member and their teams to pick and plan the events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe students in Social Affairs did just about everything,\u201d Ball said. \u201cMost ASUR meetings were open to the public with a chance for any student to come in and share their thoughts and ideas but almost no one knew about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From weekly Arts and Crafts nights to Casino Night, ASUR Social Affairs was effective in its planning, but lacked the involvement of students outside of the organization, Ball informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the problems that existed in ASUR, such as the lack of involvement, weren\u2019t limited to the government and the result was the termination of both halves of the organization. With its fall though, the question became: What will happen this semester?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students may have noticed that the volume of events this semester is much smaller than previous semesters. Since the discontinuation of ASUR, event planning has fallen solely on staff members in Student Involvement and Success (SIS). While the Student Voice Task Force has been working to rebuild a student government from the remains of ASUR and all its components, including Social Affairs, events have still been planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assistant Director of Student Involvement Jillian Strong said, \u201cIn terms of putting activities on for the campus it is literally just me. We are going from a big team of Social Affairs to just me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maintaining the same volume of events that were hosted under ASUR Social Affairs would be nearly impossible to achieve. Despite the undesirable circumstances, however, Strong has continued to make programming events a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur strategy for this semester was to put on programs that are larger scale [for the whole] school. Getting more than 100 students to come was the goal,\u201d Strong said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the recent events planned by SIS was the screening of the film A Little White Lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ball also informed that, while there might be no student government this semester, the student fee that is meant for event planning is still being used as it was intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat budget would typically go to social affairs is not, but it is still expected that it goes to student programming and their best avenue to do student programming is to get more students involved,” Ball shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SIS isn\u2019t the only department that plans events on campus, and that hasn\u2019t changed since the discontinuation of Social Affairs. This year however, the presence of other groups planning events for students has become more prominent as their events have supported the work done by SIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One such group is Resident Assistants (RAs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ball, who is also an RA shared that, \u201cRAs are expected to host various numbers of programs throughout the semester.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n These events planned by RAs are open to anyone on campus, but are more geared towards residents of the hall the event is hosted in. A major difference between programs hosted by RAs and those hosted by Social Affairs and SIS is the intent behind the events, Ball said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs RAs we\u2019re more focused on professional development and acclimating [students] into [the] college campus,\u201d Ball added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He continued by saying the focus of SIS and Social Affairs is not educational directives, but more to \u201ccome hang out and chill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from RAs, clubs and organizations also host events. While their amount of programming hasn\u2019t necessarily changed with the removal of Social Affairs, this semester their planning has bolstered SIS, helping make up for the lack of events planned overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Undeniably, the events planned by RAs, clubs and organizations on campus have filled many of the gaps left in the absence of Social Affairs. While Redlands has had a lot of smaller events, they\u2019ve lacked more centralized ones that include the whole school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s very different. It\u2019s always been on students to take the initiative, it\u2019s just the avenue in which it was done last year is no longer there,\u201d Ball noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this works for a transitional period, that is all it works for: a transition. The separation of event planning, with the only source being individuals rather than a team, is not sustainable, Ball shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter DAWGS, the new Social Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAWGS stands for Doing Activities With Great Spirit, and though it was just created this semester, it\u2019s not a new club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually a club that was brought back. It used to exist before,\u201d Noelle Chavez \u201924, a co-founder of the updated DAWGS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The club, like ASUR, is getting its own revival, and at a more crucial time than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The renewal of DAWGS started as a student section called DAWG Pound at football games in early September of this year. It was an idea originally pitched by members of the Pom Squad, the dance cheer club on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it was still at its earliest stages, Shelli Stockton, the director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement, helped start DAWGS as the administrator, Chavez said. While not originally planning to be one of the leaders of such an organization, Chavez\u2019s ideas and willingness to give suggestions got her an invitation from Stockton to the lunch that served as the beginning of DAWGS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I got brought into it. We talked about what our next steps were,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t intending to be at the forefront of it. It fell together [because] we all knew each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The club was formed to encourage student involvement in athletic events, finding ways to appeal to the student body and encourage campus connectivity. They tried to appear at the home games for every sport on campus, developing their standing as a force for student event planning on campus, Chavez shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite facing hurdles like having no budget because they weren\u2019t registered as an official club, DAWGS persisted. Their resourcefulness is what propelled them forward. For instance, the shirts they gave away at games were not bought or provided by the school, Chavez informed. They were donated by an alumni who had worked with Pom Squad. Chavez also shared that they were very methodical in planning the events they held each game, what prizes they awarded, and how many shirts they gave away. Their hard work helped them slowly develop into a popular force for event planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About two weeks ago, Chavez and her co-lead Enrique Alverde decided to take things to the next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe talked about it and said it would be really cool to take this and turn it into an all-campus thing,\u201d Chavez explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lucky for them, they weren\u2019t the only ones with this idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEarlier this week we were approached by Student Affairs to become the new Social Affairs,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so, the next era begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can students expect going into the next semester?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMoving forward, student government is not going away but ASUR is,\u201d Strong said. \u201cSocial Affairs is being removed from student government, not to say that they won\u2019t work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The disconnect that existed when Social Affairs fell under the umbrella of ASUR will be combated by the delineation of the new Social Affairs as a separate organization from the elected student officials. It is meant to encourage more student involvement as a part of the organization itself, not just as audience members, as was the case with ASUR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, as Ball said when interviewed, \u201cWho knows students better than students?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAWGS is surfacing as the new Social Affairs, but they\u2019re also merging with the Campus Activity Board (CAB), Strong shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does this mean for DAWGS?<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAWGS is going to be a part of SIS moving forward. While this does imply less freedom and more administrative control, it also opens more opportunities for partnerships and planning, Chavez shared. Going forward, DAWGS is going to be officialized as Social Affairs which creates certain expectations, but also certain advantages, especially when it comes to collaborative work with employees of the University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to plan the logistics of what you all want to do. Myself as an advisor and professional staff will assist in terms of planning and contracts and those kinds of things. That\u2019s the idea moving forward,\u201d Strong shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the merger comes the need for a solid system and structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s in the hands of Enrique and I, with the current CAB members, to decide how this should be structured. A big goal is to continue working with clubs and departments. Social Affairs kind of did that in the past and I don\u2019t want to take that away,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the merger of CAB and DAWGS into SIS means that DAWGS has a much larger budget now. The portion of the student fees, extra charges that are a part of tuition at Redlands, will now be at the disposal of DAWGS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was always the intended goal to bring about spirit for Redlands on campus in whatever way we could,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Little did they know it would be in the form of the new Social Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDAWGS is Social Affairs,\u201d Chavez declared. She hopes the name DAWGS will become synonymous with Social Affairs, especially to many freshmen who don\u2019t know what Social Affairs is. Chavez has been asked the question by freshmen: \u201cWho is Social Affairs? Oh, that\u2019s DAWGS,\u201d Chavez has responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They plan to bring traditions that are both old and new by working with students and hearing their ideas. Above all, they want DAWGS to be different from ASUR, making it student-driven and inclusive to all who want to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the new design of Social Affairs as a separate organization rather than a part of the elected government, it\u2019s much easier to get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Casino-Nights-by-Marissa-Torres-1024x679.jpg\")
Social Affairs this Past Semester<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Who Plans Events?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/MicrosoftTeams-image-7.png\")
What is DAWGS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/MicrosoftTeams-image-8-768x1024.jpg\")
The New Social Affairs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What the Future Holds for DAWGS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Getting Involved<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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