Hello,

My, what a tumultuous time this has been; decisions are being made and swapped daily and it is very difficult to plan ahead in the peculiar circumstances of a global pandemic. This previous term, my committee worked hard at gearing up for larger social and on-campus movements related to International Students. We met every Wednesday from 7:00-8:00 pm, more often than not running upwards of a half hour over our scheduled time. My senators and interns were passionate. We had so much work we wanted to accomplish as a committee; so many ideas brewing within the confines of our meetings. We wanted to focus on bridging gaps that we noticed structurally throughout ASPSU and the greater Portland State community, and to help foster more connections across campus. I think our biggest accomplishment of Winter Term was our productivity. We all wanted to be there, wanted to work, and cared about results, which gave me a well-formed team to collaborate with. The true shame is that everything we were gearing up for in Spring is now on Hiatus. All of the hours and energy we put into our work is at quite the standstill, especially because our committee's purpose focuses on a vulnerable population to the COVID-19 crisis. Right now all my committee can focus on is being there for our fellow students and making sure we can do however much we can to help the international department during this crisis.

Winter Term 2020 Accomplishments:

• We all bonded and familiarized ourselves with one another. It was important to me that my committees members felt a certain level of comfort with me and knew that they could absolutely reach out should they need anything. A sense of camaraderie.

• We workshopped, drafted, and completed our mission statement as a committee, which reads: “We, the International Affairs Committee, strive to provide a space for advocacy and solidarity to the international community at Portland State. We recognize that there is strength in unity of diversity and believe that every

• international student at Portland State deserves rights, equity, representation, and belonging.”

• We were able to design a symbol for our committee that to the best of our abilities, embodies the spirit of the international community here at Portland State. The design is a strong closed fist that has all of the different country flags of all of the different international students currently at Portland State. The design was something that we were very proud to unveil, and it gives our committee a visual representation to students.

• We started our own social media platform. This will be essential to our committee heading into a remote Spring Term, and building followers and content will be a big push during spring.

• We were able to plan out multiple widespread events for international students, like our Spring meet and greet and our International Night with the department, as well as events for the greater ASPSU group, including our proposed ASPSU debate.

When it comes to committee sustains, I would say my committee worked very well last term. I never had an issue with attendance, or inspiration, so moving into next term, I think finding various ways to keep the spirit and creativity of my committee alive is crucial to our success.

Plans for Spring Term 2020:

• Creating some kind of digital platform with/for the international department that my senators and I regularly updated with lists and entries with ideas on how to stay

• happy/fulfilled/sane/healthy during an online term. Kind of like a blog, and we would use our instagram to advertise it but ideally, we’d make a website.

• Working with the international department to build some kind of over-the-phone peer counseling that my senators and I could help implement and even participate in.

• My biggest goal for spring is just to help where the help is needed the most, so my goals as a director will shift with what the International students of Portland State need to be successful in such an unprecedented term.