Last week the Senate discussed the plan to move the Dean of Students Office, which includes the Office of Minority Student Affairs and Disabled Student Services, and as the Office of the First-Year Experience from their current location in the Troy Building to Academy Hall. After meeting with Grand Marshall Gil Valadez ’02, Senate Student Life Committee Chair Arikpo Onda ’02 and Bruce Elliot Jr., the chair of the Minority Student Organizations Leaders’ Council, President Jackson decided to push the move back from the original date in December to a date in May.
"We have bought time. The leaders got organized, pushed the date back, and now we need to look for a solution," said Valadez. Currently, the Student Life Committee is working with other campus groups to brainstorm solutions including other possible locations for the offices.
According to Jackson, DOSO and the related offices have outgrown their space and need larger offices. The president assured the group that Academy Hall will be made handicap accessible before the move, but some senators question the ability for the modifications to be made in such a short period of time.
In the Senate discussion of the move, Senator Chris Gill ’02 raised concerns about the motivation of the move. "More than any other branch of the administration, DOSO is in touch with the students. Exiling them to [Academy Hall] will put them outside of the corridors of power continuing a disturbing trend of moving the Institute’s decision-making focus away from students."
After the meetingOnda said "President Jackson is very student-oriented and I don’t think that thought crossed her mind, but she needs to be aware that students feel that way."
The Student Senate also discussed a resolution, proposed by Senator Gill, encouraging all student government bodies to update their webpages to include member lists, meeting times and locations, and contact information for officers and the body as a whole. Currently, many of the student government webpages are either out of date or nonexistent.
"We need to make it as easy as possible for students to provide feedback [to the student government]," said Valadez.
The resolution was not voted on. It was agreed that Senator Chris Mather ’03 and the Communications Committee would set up meeting times with representatives from each student government body to update the webpages.
In addition to working on issues related to the DOSO move, the Senate Student Life Committee, is focusing on a number of other issues this semester. They are assisting the vice president for student life in organizing the Student Life forums which allows students to meet with Student Life representatives to discuss the goals of the Student Life Five-Year Plan. This event will take place in the Shelnutt Gallery on November 19 at 7 pm.
The committee is also working with the Union to set up an exchange between cultural organizations, referred to as the "Buddy System." Also, they are setting up student life bulletin boards to provide a forum for students to voice questions and concerns.
The Student Life Committee is also looking to present a Senate resolution to address on campus parking. Among the factors being considered are prices for new parking areas, relocation of parking spaces, the price and availability of parking permits, shuttle services from more remote lots, and the availability of parking for faculty.
In conjunction with the Academic Affairs Committee, the committee is looking into prestige pricing, with a focus on room and board pricing. The Student Life Committee plans to meet with Vice President Eddie Knowles to determine housing prices. "We want to make sure the students know what is going on in their school," said Onda.
The Student Life Committee meets every other Tuesday in the Shelnutt Gallery at 8-9 pm. The results of the study on competitive room and board pricing will be made available to the general student population.
