Topics such as a lack of election participation, considering currency fluctuations in financial aid, and changes in dining were discussed at the SA meeting this past Monday.
Members of SA stressed how River Campus historically struggles with voter registration. Members hoped to raise awareness for the upcoming midterm elections by promoting Sigma Phi Epsilon’s outreach efforts in collaboration with College Democrats, College Republicans, and the Committee for Political Engagement to drive students to the ballots.
Another group seeking to gain campus attention is the Humanities Center.
According to SA Vice President and junior Jamal Holtz, the Humanities Center will be meeting with SA to work on its “brand,” including letting students know that “everyone is welcome,” not just those majoring in humanities.
Furthermore, Holtz announced SA’s intention to try and increase awareness of lockers located within campus libraries, as six laptops have been stolen since 2016. While this number is relatively low, he argued it could always be better.
On the student-life side of things, a petition is in early stages that will attempt to make new resources available for grieving students.
In addition, the committee of International Students’ Affairs had a new idea to help students, especially given how Turkish students’ tuition has effectively doubled as the Turkish Lira’s value has plummeted over the past year.
The committee has decided to look into the possibility of the University taking into the fluctuating value of world currency into account when calculating tuition and financial aid. An unofficial attempt to get the University on board with this plan has yielded a no from a representative of the financial aid office, yet the committee still plans on approaching the idea on a more official basis.
Promoting the visibility of peer advisors, as well as possibly updating handling of pre-major advising, are things the academics committee expressed interest in. It hopes these will alleviate first-year students’ confusion on picking classes that best help them on their chosen path, or alternatively, will help them decide which path they want to go down.
Lastly, Campus Services had plenty of topics to discuss. After speaking to the Director of Dining, the committee decided its main goals in relation to campus dining were to increase and improve the amount and quality of food cooked directly on campus with more use of local food sources.
The committee has just begun to look at meal plans, but it expects it will take at least a year before any major change will come of it.
Campus Services is also looking to improve the sustainability and environmental friendliness of the campus.
One plan was to change the shower heads, so that less water would be lost spraying out of them. Another plan is to add solar panels to the Athletic Center.
Executive Director of Campus Services and junior Anne Marie Cortes stressed the need for student feedback and support in convincing the University to take action on sustainability issues, calling on students with ideas for a more eco-friendly campus to contact SA and get involved.
