Last spring, you, the student body, elected me student body president.’ Although you may have been away over the past few months, the Student Government Association (SGA) has been hard at work on initiatives that we talked about during the campaign. I am happy to report that we have made considerable progress on some issues and we are better prepared to ensure that your voice is heard on campus. As we begin the fall semester, I wanted to provide you with updates on some of our initiatives.
SGA is aware of your concerns with the print quota and the desire to print in an environmentally friendly way. Based on this, a senator worked with representatives from Information Services at the beginning of the summer to evaluate a few new printing ideas. Just a few weeks ago, InfoCommons rolled out duplex printing (printing on both sides), effectively increasing your print quota to as high as 800 pages per semester.
If you’re living in an apartment on campus, you may have noticed a new addition to your room when you moved in this fall:’ a recycling bin. Over the past months, we have worked with Facilities to provide more opportunities to recycle on campus. Whether it is in the Curry Student Center, outside and around campus, or, most recently, in your apartment, there are now more opportunities than ever to ensure that your paper, bottles and cans are recycled.
Last November we asked you what projects you wanted to see in this year’s budget and your voice was very clear. We worked with members of the senior administration through the spring to have these items included in the budget and over the summer with individual departments to ensure everything was on track. As you look around campus, you’ll see the outcomes. Yesterday, Outtakes opened for breakfast, as it will do every weekday throughout the semester. Behind West Village G and Willis Hall there is a new sand volleyball court and, in front of Speare Hall, there is a new wiffleball field with improved drainage, both focusing on the casual recreation concerns that arose last year. There are now copiers in the Library that accept Husky Cards, wireless routers are now allowed in your residence hall rooms, more bike racks are available by the library, and Matthews Arena is newly renovated. All thanks to your feedback and work by dedicated members of the student government.
After a year of searching for vendors for International Village, Jamba Juice and Peet’s Coffee & Tea opened this week. These new vendors are joining an impressive new dining hall, where the menu was designed based on the Food Preferences Survey you filled out last spring.
From an internal point of view, we launched our new website last month at www.sga.neu.edu, with improved navigation, additional resources, and news of what we are working on. Also on the new site is a blog, where I will keep you up to date on our progress on new initiatives, and NUideas, where you can propose new ideas, vote on others, and tell us exactly what you want to see on campus. There is much more planned for this site, so look out for new features to come over the next few months.
The Student Government is positioned to accomplish quite a bit this fall, but we need your help. We need you to tell us what you want to see on campus, what isn’t working as well as it should be, or even to help us tackle new projects. If you are interested in getting involved in SGA, whether as a senator or a committee member, see www.sga.neu.edu/about/get-involved for more information.
‘- Ryan Fox is a junior computer engineering major and Student Government Association president.
