From the president

Greetings fellow students. I hope your semester is off to a great start! You might have noticed how the amount of trash in the Commons has become ridiculous. I want to give a gentle reminder to all students that we should respect each other and our school. So please pick up the trash around you. Respect your fellow students who work in the Commons by picking up your own trash and anything else you can.

The student senate had its first meeting of the semester last Monday. I delivered my State of the Student Body Address to a full house of senators. The State of the Student Body Address was my opportunity to recount the accomplishments of the SGA from this past spring and to discuss my plans for the future. If you’re interested in hearing the address, it is uploaded to www.vcusga.com as an audio podcast.

After I gave my address, the senate passed a bill to put Veterans Day on the university calendar. For some reason, it was never on the calendar before. Other bills that were introduced were a Banned Students Bill to prevent students who have been banned from VCU from enrolling as students. This is more or less a housekeeping bill and a common-sense proposal to do something that should have already been taken care of. The other is the ResNet Bill, which deals with the new software that students in residence halls are required to install on their computers. Some students have expressed concerns about its effectiveness and questioned its purpose. Student senate meetings are held every Monday at 4 p.m. in the Commons Forum Room. All students are welcome and invited to attend.

Part of my role as student body president is to make sure those of you who want to contribute to our student body aren’t sitting on the sidelines. That’s why I encourage all students to consider applying to be a student representative to the VCU Board of Visitors for the 2007-2008 academic year. The student representative serves as a non-voting representative to the board’s Student Affairs Committee. Eligible students must be enrolled as a full-time student in good standing and maintain continuous full-time enrollment throughout the representative term. For more information, please check the VCU Web site or contact Reuban Rodriguez at vcudean@vcu.edu.

Speaking of getting students involved, here’s a way to directly affect the decisions that are made at the Virginia General Assembly: Come out to Virginia21’s special session on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 3 p.m. in the Canal Room of the Commons to learn about issues that are important to Virginia’s students and are being voted on by Virginia’s lawmakers. Some bills that the General Assembly is working on are a redistricting study and an intellectual diversity bill. Do you think we need a non-partisan redistricting plan? Do you think that intellectual diversity is a problem on campus? E-mail politics@vcusga.com, or join the Facebook group “Let’s Do Something About It” for more information.

And lastly, it’s about that time again: SGA elections. We have election packets available for student body president, student body vice president, executive director of university relations and senator positions for the fall of 2007. The best place to find out more about this is the SGA Web site at www.vcusga.com. Click on the elections tab on the left side of the screen. Elections will not be until March, but the due date for completed applications is Friday, Feb. 16, which is only a few weeks away. The election season is a very exciting time for the SGA, so don’t miss out.

As always, I can be reached at SGAPresident@vcu.edu.