In light of student complaints about the limited supply of free sweatshirts at the senior town hall Monday, Student Government Association members voiced suggestions to improve class unity and town halls.
I’ve been getting a lot of the hate e-mails for the past couple of days said Senior Class President Jennifer Young.
Senior senators ordered 150 Gilden brand sweatshirts to give away to the first seniors to arrive. Some seniors criticized SGA for only ordering enough sweatshirts for 20 percent of the class. Sweatshirts ran out within approximately 30 minutes.
I just thought that it seemed like this is a tradition said Andrew Masters who served on SGA as a sophomore senator. It seems like they went with the more expensive design knowing everyone in SGA would get one without meeting the needs of the people.”
SGA President Hunter Stanfield said it would have cost approximately $15000 to purchase sweatshirts for every senior. He said senior SGA officers planned well in advance for the town hall.
The goal of the senior town hall was to raise awareness about the class gift and Senior Week as well as promote a sense of unity. However because most seniors left immediately after receiving a sweatshirt little discussion occurred at the town hall.
“[There is] a smaller portion of the class that is satisfied with SGA than the greater portion said Junior Senator Blake Franks. [The] intention behind it was to give the class something to be unified about but it’s divided now. It was supposed to be something that’s fun.”
In an open forum discussion during the meeting SGA members discussed whether there was a better way to allocate the money for town hall giveaways. They also addressed what some viewed as a sense of entitlement to receive a free gift at town halls.
“I wouldn’t say we necessarily need to put a stop to [giveaways] Franks said. I think the sense of entitlement is the biggest problem. There needs to be some type of giveaway even if it is just food.”
In the meeting Freshman Senator Kaila Bradley raised the possibility of halting town halls.
“If we didn’t have town hall [events] … how would you get feedback from your students?” asked Vice President of Administration John Ceglia.
Some SGA members said town hall meetings are necessary to improve campus unity.
“I think the biggest thing about the town hall is that it fosters community said Junior Senator Katie Stjernholm. I think that … the tangible giveaway … [and] the town halls are really important. I don’t think a lot of people take the suggestion box seriously. I think town halls are important regardless of how many hate e-mails [we received].”
SGA members were glad to hear about the success of the freshman town hall which was held in the Waves Café on Tuesday at 9 p.m.
Freshmen President Clay Karels and Senators Bobby Hall Wojciech Peliks and Bradley and distributed questionnaires to freshman at the town hall asking for suggestions on policies or activities. Students were required to complete a questionnaire which doubled as a raffle ticket for two iPod shuffles before they could receive one of the 200 Hanes T-shirts.
“I liked how they were able to integrate the fun into the point of it which was to get feedback said freshman Rebecca Olu. And the free stuff was great.”
Karels said he was pleased to receive 202 completed surveys more than he expected. He estimated that approximately 250 freshmen attended.
“We had people staying afterwards and just hanging out and that’s kind of what we wanted Hall said.
The freshman town hall also featured music and free slushies.
Officers ordered 100 T-shirts for their town hall, occurring tonight at 5 p.m. in Adamson Plaza.
Junior SGA officers will offer Sprinkles Cupcakes at their town hall, occurring tonight at 8 p.m. in the Lovernich Courtyard. They also ordered 160 beach towels, which will serve as their first come first serve giveaway item.
Also at Wednesday’s SGA meeting, guest speaker Rhiannon Pregitzer, assistant vice president of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, informed SGA about the measures her office is taking to improve energy efficiency on campus.
What we’re focusing on is getting a comprehensive view out there … ways students can get involved like GreenTeam created … getting feedback from students faculty and staff she said.
Pregitzer also mentioned that she would be directly involved with the Campus Life Project (CPL), which will renovate freshmen dorms and Rho parking lot.
Were looking at rehabilitating the dorms putting in some new athletic facilities … some new parking some new interior green space Pregitzer said. Through that project we’re looking to do significant energy reduction.”
Pregitzer also listed a variety of ways students can begin to conserve energy in their own ways including reducing their shower times by a minute or more unplugging unused electronics at night and turning off the water while brushing one’s teeth.