The Impact of ASUN: The Journey of Dominique Hall
Dominique Hall was just another normal student at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and how she involved herself through this university is what made her professional career as impressive as it is now.
Watch the “CREATED EQUAL: How Antiracism Can Create A More Perfect Union” video that Hall took part in, which was provided by the University of Nevada, Reno’s official Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLXeCewhWtH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Student body at UNR is also known as The Associated Student of the University of Nevada (ASUN). ASUN’s role at this university is not only to create structure but is beneficial towards members who take part in it.
It can provide students with professional skills, knowledge about government structures, and networking opportunities which specifically became beneficial to Journalism-senior Dominique Hall.
After her freshman year, Hall was an orientation guide for two semesters. Later, she became part of the ASUN team, first as a legislative intern, then as a senator.
Hall has completed multiple internships over the course of her college and professional career.
She interned for the Reynolds School of Journalism, where she dealt with public relations and maintained the image of the Reynolds School.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for data research involving facial recognition in law enforcement.
Finally, for The Every Voice Coalition, which was grass-root organization fellowship that advocated sexual-violence prevention on campus.
During the fall semester of her junior year, Hall was offered a scholastic journalistic internship in Washington D.C., where she worked professionally and continued her education in Economics at George Mason University.
How she got involved in the inner workings of ASUN was due to the people she knew around her.
“I think networking is everything. For me, it was mostly being friends with people who were involved in ASUN. Once you’re in a social circle of people, it allows you to advance within the circle and take on different positions. That’s how I networked to get into student body, by knowing people in student government, going for an internship, and then running for a position. But then for external internships, that involved networking with faculty and administration just by talking to them, along with my professors and doing tasks/recruitment jobs for them. It was a mix of both student and faculty working.”
Her internships along with her determination led to her running for student body president in 2020.
Hall was elected the next ASUN president last March. Her goal as president was to eliminate the barriers students experience while attending this university with her “Breaking Boundaries 2020” campaign.
Hall’s win has allowed her to be a presence in this university and talk about topics that she believes needs to be addressed for the improvement of this school.
After almost a year of her presidency, she believes that she had achieved her goals she declared when first running for president.
“I think that my position as student body president has been very impactful to this university for creating change. I think there being a black-woman student body president, which we’ve never had before, especially during a civil rights movement, has been crucial to the changes that have been made on campus. I’ve also changed university policies and Reno policies, so I think I’ve been very impactful because I understand what it’s like to be underrepresented in multiple communities, so I put that as a priority.”
Since UNR is currently going through its cycle of student body elections, ASUN feels that it’s important to inform students about the importance of being involved on campus, whether it’s through voting or through being in ASUN itself.
“I think the main thing that should be conveyed about the impact of ASUN, specifically with my presidency is that now, because of me and ASUN, the university is not afraid to address specific topics, which I think is significant to this university, and needed for systemic change. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but at the moment we’ve provided change and we are here to listen.”
Hall is currently working towards attending law school to become an attorney after she graduates.
Story/Interview conducted by Lisa Cervantes
Quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity
