Board of trustees approves ASWU’s reserve management plan
- Avneet Dhaliwal, Staff Writer
- 18 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Disclaimer: The Collegian receives most of its funding from ASWU.
Willamette’s board of trustees voted in favor of the Associated Students of Willamette University’s (ASWU) reserve management plan at their meeting in late October, which removes ASWU’s funds from direct investment alongside the Willamette University endowment.
The decision came after a year-long effort, starting in the fall semester of 2024, during which ASWU has explored ways to divest its endowment fund from Willamette University’s endowment in order to maintain transparency over where that money comes from and how it is used. The effort came in the wake of student-led demonstrations calling for the university’s disclosure and divestment of funds associated with the U.S. arms industry.
As part of ASWU’s reserve management plan, the removed funds will be transferred into a general ledger account, meaning it cannot be reinvested for other purposes and is now considered a reserve fund.
Due to the new location of the ASWU funds, it will be referred to as the “ASWU Reserve Fund” instead of the “ASWU Endowment Fund” in legal matters and in general from now on. The funds, which amounted to approximately $400,000 as of Oct. 2, will officially be transferred over in a couple of weeks into the ASWU Reserve Fund.
The Endowment was created back in 2004 to help support intergenerational equity. The “Student Activity Fee” that every student pays for as a part of tuition goes directly to ASWU. This money is then used for clubs and other student-led events or activities. Despite the constant growth of the fund, in recent years, it hasn’t regularly been accessed for student projects.
“Students [were] paying fees [each year], and those fees are being put into the endowment, [but] students have not seen the benefits of that money in probably the last 10 years,” said Stevie Bergstrom, president of ASWU.
With more accessibility to the fund, ASWU has brainstormed some possibilities in terms of application of the fund.
“Our plan moving forward with the [ASWU] Reserve Fund is to do some sort of capital improvement project [in spring of 2026] to really show students the benefit of this year-long project that we’ve been working on,” said Bergstrom.
Suggestions from students and faculty members have ranged from installing a volleyball pit on campus, adding swings on campus, updating furniture in the UC building, and renovating the Smith Auditorium. Overall, ASWU is eager to receive student input over the use of the Reserve Fund.
“I’m really excited to see something really positive come out of this and to hopefully get a lot of student feedback about [the fund],” Bergstrom said.