From the president

The Virginia Marriage Amendment: On Tuesday, the SGA sponsored a debate on the VA marriage amendment in the Richmond Salons. We had a fantastic turnout! The debate was so successful that it was covered by the local news. The School of Mass Communications is having another debate on this topic 4 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Commons Theater. This one will feature Del. Bob Marshall, (R-Manassas), one of the sponsors of the amendment.

Student Poll Workers: One of SGA’s big goals is to get more students involved in the political process. This year, the SGA, in cooperation with Virginia21, launched a new civic service program to help young voters work the polls on Election Day. This is a great opportunity for young people to get involved in the process, serve our community and make some money. We had 30 open spots in Richmond and were able to successfully recruit over 40 students! Each poll worker makes over $100 for one day work. This is also a great initiative because the average age of a poll worker is 72, and with the advent of the new electronic touch-screen voting booths, having younger tech-savvy people working at the polls can help voting run much smoother. For more information on this project, visit www.virginia21.org/democracy101. Congratulations to our students who have made the commitment to get more involved!

Party Patrol Reform: After having meetings with both VCU Police Chief Willie Fuller and Richmond City Councilman Bill Pantele, we’ve been able to clarify many important concerns. The Party Patrol was started to reduce crime in the Fan. Over the past year, they reduced crime in the Fan by at least half. The purpose of Party Patrol is not simply to investigate and bust parties, but rather to reduce the incident of theft and violent crime in the entire Fan area. Many students have complained about undercover agents infiltrating student parties, however this is NOT Party Patrol activity. The Virginia ABC is the organization that employs undercover agents to investigate underage drinking. While Party Patrol does respond to reports of vandalism and underage drinking, this is not its sole purpose and does NOT utilize undercover agents. The Party Patrol employs off-duty police officers.

Escort Service Reform: Currently the SGA is working with VCU Parking & Transportation to come up with a system to replace our current point-to-point security escort. During our meeting with Councilman Pantele, he showed us his plan for a downtown circulator bus system to help VCU students get around. We hope to combine his plan, with VCU’s plan to come up with a system that works in cooperation with the City for the benefit of VCU students. For more info, e-mail students@vcusga.com.

For updates on what the SGA is doing to improve VCU for you, visit www.vcusga.com. You can find weekly updates from student Senate committees and cabinet members on our online forums at www.vcusga.com/talk. Feel free to contact me at sgapresident@vcu.edu. Thanks!