2008 Woodie Awards
SGA Committees set outreach agenda
By Rob Wnorowski
Rob Wnorowski
- Page 1 of 1
All eight of the Student Government Association committees formed, met and began brainstorming ideas and initiatives last week.
"I want the SGA committees to take an active role in shaping university policy," SGA President sophomore Matt Troy said.
The goals of the Academic Affairs committee, headed by Attorney General Andrew Cronholm, are two-fold. �We want to increase the culture of learning on campus�by bringing learning into the dorms and out of just the classrooms,� Cronholm, a junior, said. �The other is to work with administrators to define what a liberal arts education means to the students and to define a Drew student.�
The committee plans to address general education requirements, the first-year seminar and improve and expand the Last Lecture Series, according to Cronholm.
�We have many ideas�it�s all written down,� University Senator senior Jennifer Hudon said about the lecture series.
Cronholm and Hudon did not share specifics about how they plan to improve it. With recent concerns about mail fraud, the Health, Plant and Public Safety [HPPS] committee made the issues resolution its main goal, according to Senior Class Senator Tom Cioce, who co-chairs the committee.
�We plan to meet with Dean [of Campus Life and Student Affairs Dawn] Williams to see who is in charge of the mail people�since it�s a private company,� Cioce said. He added that commuters do not have access to academic buildings after about 10 p.m. and nobody can enter the Dorothy Young Center for the Arts late at night because it locks with a key.
�We hope to make changes in the fob system, partly with the ResLife committee, [and] get the Suites under one system,� Cioce said.
Because of a lack in communal spaces, the Housing and Residence Life committee, headed by SGA Chief of Staff senior Peter Stuart, plans to evaluate last year�s Space Report and build on it. According to Stuart, a senior, the committee plans to draft a communal space report.
�It will include tangible and realistic goals like what kind of furniture and how much,� Stuart said. �The Suites need more space. There is one lounge�Foster lounge [and students] from McClintock and Hurst don�t have access to it after 12 a.m.� Regarding the decrease of lounges in residence halls like Tolley and Brown, Stuart said, �We need to figure out how to utilize what we have.�
Because Aramark�s contract expires soon, the SGA Dining Affairs committee has a lot on its plate. It is headed by Director of Committees Tom Gilchrist. �Our number one goal is to represent student views with Aramark and put pressure on the administration to hear students� views,� Gilchrist said. He has not yet met with Aramark personnel, but plans to do so soon.
According to Gilchrist, the committee will host a Drew discussion on dining to get student opinion.
The committee is also deciding whether to have an SGA Meal of the Week. �[We are] trying to facilitate a way for students to get another meal during the week�whether through Romanellis or whatever,� Gilchrist said. �It�s not going to be hosted by us. And there isn�t a plan for it yet.�
The SGA Technology committee, headed by Treasure sophomore Nhuong Son, is working on initiatives to bring more activities on the weekends.
According to Son, a sophomore, the committee is working on a free DVD lending program called Forest Flicks. �We�re in the process of making a website now with a list of movies we�ll buy. Students would go on it, request a movie and we would log on and check it out for them,� Son said. Son added that students would be allowed to rent movies for one week.
�The week would start after I or one of my committee members puts the movie in [the renter�s campus mail] box.� According to Son, the movies would be new releases and classics, purchased in bundles. He added that the SGA would accept student requests for movies.
Before the concept actualizes, the SGA Senate needs to approve the bill and university lawyers must give their legal permission to pursue the program, Son said. If the lawyers approve the program, the committee plans to ask the SGA for $300 to purchase the first batch of movies, Son said. At an earlier SGA meeting, Troy urged the Technology committee to address wireless Internet access in dorm rooms. �Personally, it�s not very feasible due to the cost of wireless Internet,� Son said. Nonetheless, Son added that the committee would research the issue and work with CNS to see if it can become feasible.
To ensure that students are aware of the SGA and its activities, Director of Communications Sherry Chen, who heads the non-standing Public Relations committee, worked during the summer to sketch out plans for a monthly newsletter.
�It�s called �The Squirrel� and will have updates from the meetings, new legislation, articles and updates on what committees are working on,� Chen, a junior, said. �We plan to include some aspect from non-SGA members too.�
Chen added that the newsletter would have a question-and-answer section to get student feedback, as well as possible spotlights on senators. According to Chen, the SGA will hang the bathroom reader version of the newsletter in the stalls of dorm floors, academic buildings and at Tipple Hall for the students living there.
�The first issue will be an introductory version, including all the committees and notifying the student body about committee meetings which are open to all students,� Chen said.
To help with diversity awareness, junior Cristal Reyes, was appointed the diversity chair and head of the Diversity committee. Reyes said the committee�s initiatives will be new and not what last year�s committee left them. �We reviewed [last year�s initiatives] and decided to take a different approach,� she said. �We just wanted to take the committee to the next level.�
According to Reyes, the committee also plans to create a diversity calendar which includes events by diversity clubs on campus. �We hope to raise diversity awareness on campus and by diversity, I mean going beyond the misconception that it pertains to just ethnicity and culture,� Reyes said. �Diversity also includes sexual orientation and encompasses everyone on campus.�
Director of Community Affairs sophomore Jeff Javed chairs the non-standing Student Engagement committee. According to Javed, a sophomore, his committee is still in its beginning stages.
�My committee�s first meeting was more of an anomaly�so we didn�t get much administrative work�but we will,� Javed said at Sunday�s SGA meeting. According to Javed, the committee hopes to sponsor on-campus discussions between administrators and students and create discussion groups for interested students.
Ultimately, Troy said that he expects all of the SGA committees to develop concrete and innovative plans that benefit the student body and address emerging campus issues such as mail fraud, slow Internet and communal space issues.