ASPLU Program Review FAQs

Everything that ASPLU does will be spread to already established and thriving organizations on campus. We’re in the process of identifying who is best situated across campus, including meeting with interested campus resources to ensure key parts of ASPLU are continued.

We will still have students appointed to represent students in spaces where student voice has historically been present, including the Board of Regents, Academic Affairs, and Faculty/Staff Committees. Maintaining the presence of student voices continues to be a priority, even in the absence of a traditional student government format.  

Student Life will continue to prioritize student voice and will actively engage students in representing student experience across campus. If you are interested in becoming an appointed student representative or would like to learn more about it please contact Alexis Austin (alexis.austin@plu.edu)!

The purpose of the Program Review was to see how to make student representation better fit the needs of the current student body at PLU. After our entire process – including talking with students and changing communication styles – student engagement was still not reaching the level that is required for a thriving student government. The team decided based on the various feedback we got and general reactions from the student body we should change methods entirely and disperse the responsibilities of ASPLU amongst already thriving organizations at PLU, rather than trying to keep pushing a system that students are not engaging with.

When we entered into the process of a program review, it was in response to dwindling student engagement in ASPLU, both in terms of people running for positions as well as people attending ASPLU events and seeking out ASPLU representatives for advocacy. ASPLU had struggled to fill all seats via elections for multiple years and even when there were interested candidates, they were often uncontested. Unfortunately, for the Fall 2026 elections, not all seats had interested candidates and all but one were uncontested. This is a continued indicator of lack of student engagement with this process. We need a healthy and robust student governance model, which was not accomplished through this restructure.

The budget will go to the organizations that are taking on ASPLU responsibilities. This will likely be the funding for students who become appointed representatives for student voice, student advocacy and more. Any remaining money or resources will come back to students in  other ways as well. There is a priority from Student Life to provide funding and support for student representation in any form it takes in the future, including If and when there is student engagement that allows for a healthy and robust student governance model.

Our Program Review Team is still meeting to determine the next steps. We’re focused on thoroughly documenting the program review process to ensure that any students who are interested in student governance in the future have access to the data and feedback we collected. We encourage you to reach out, give your input and tell us what you want to see!

In the 2025-26 school year, ASPLU will conduct a program review, researching PLU and other universities to determine why our student governance program has not been thriving as much as it has in the past and what we can do moving forward to improve its performance. We will be doing research at PLU along with other schools to answer these questions. These may look like interviewing students at PLU and student leaders at other schools, sending out questionnaires and surveys, etc.

ASPLU, along with university-level student governments across the nation, are not thriving as much as they have in the past. This can be shown through low participation during voting seasons, low attendance at events, and minimal input from the student body regarding their concerns, etc. ASPLU will be conducting research to figure out why this is happening, along with what we can do moving forward to gain more student participation, leading to a thriving student government. This research will also be shared with other universities that share the same concerns to help student governments across the nation thrive as they once did.

Yes! We will be returning in the 2026-27 school year, and continue to be a resource after; however, it will most likely look different from how it has looked in the past based on our findings from the Program Review.

A program review is a comprehensive assessment of what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. When done on a regular basis, the focus can be on improvement. It can also be used as a tool for reimagining and redesigning the program. This is a standard approach across PLU and higher education. While we should always be undertaking some level of self-review and assessment with a focus on continuous improvement, this is a dedicated approach that allows for people to focus on deep research and imagining around a specific topic (the revision of ASPLU).

The best thing you can do for our cause is to fill out the questionnaires honestly and thoughtfully. We genuinely want to improve, so we won’t be upset if we receive genuine criticism. If you would like to have a larger role on the project and help with the behind the scenes work, keep an eye on your PLU email — we’ll be recruiting interested folks to help with the Program Review once the academic year starts. 

Reach out to us! We’re collecting questions and will update this FAQ page on a regular basis. We can also answer one-off questions for folks. Please email ASPLU@plu.edu with your questions.