Mad props to the VCU men’s basketball team on their marvelous victory against Duke last Thursday! There will be a celebration for the men’s basketball team today at 7 p.m. in the Siegel Center. All students are welcome, so spread the word! You can find out more about the basketball team and VCU’s other sports teams by visiting www.vcurams.vcu.edu.
Voting in the SGA elections was concluded on Thursday, March 8. The voting results have been posted on the SGA Web site at www.vcusga.com. The elections results still need to be certified by the Student Judicial Board. The judicial board is still deliberating over some grievances that were filed. For more information, e-mail the judicial board at sgajud@vcu.edu.
Student affairs director Kiffy Johnson recently spoke with Pam Neff, Aramark resident district manager, who oversees the customer service training of the employees at Subway. Kiffy expressed strong concern by the customer service and treatment of students by the employees. Some concerns included rude/hostile behavior towards students, constant shortage of food supplies and choices, as well as extremely slow service. Kiffy and other SGA members will be attending customer service training sessions to express these concerns directly to the employees. For more information e-mail students@vcusga.com.
Student body vice president Megan Shandelson met with the VCU Academic Calendar Committee on March 7 to discuss adding the Veterans Day label to the academic calendar. Unfortunately the committee refused and cited that there was no place for Veterans Day on the academic calendar. The SGA will continue advocating for this issue until student veterans are appreciated by the adding of Veterans Day to VCU’s calendar. Other issues discussed included a service day where classes would be cancelled. The committee refused this proposal as well. The SGA will continue to push this important issue. For more information contact vice president Shandelson at sgavicepres@vcu.edu.
The last senate meeting before break was action packed. Political affairs director Maggie O’Brien gave a 2007 legislative wrap-up. She described the results of all our lobbying efforts and described the budget passed by the General Assembly. We had increases in base adequacy, faculty salaries and financial aid! Congratulations to all the SGA members who lobbied during the session. Your hard work really made a difference! Also at the senate meeting there was a bill introduced that dealt with the Sexual Assault Resource Center. Unfortunately, the resource center recently lost its funding so the SGA is working with the division of student affairs to try to make sure these services are still offered for students. The rest of the Senate meeting was cut short so SGA students could attend the CAA championship game.
The SGA met with the Council of Deans on March 6 to talk about increasing the “small community” feeling within each academic unit of Virginia Commonwealth University. SGA members presented their small community initiative (SCI) to the Council of Deans and talked about the successes SGA has had with the departments of Psychology and English. The Council of Deans meets once a month and is made up of the various deans of the academic units such as the dean of the College of Humanities & Sciences, the dean of the School of Engineering and the Dean of the School of the Arts, SGA members present included student body president Ali Faruk, executive cabinet chief of staff Nitin Yerram and major projects director Tayeeb Faruk.
Although the semester is approaching its end, the SGA has a lot of important work to do. We’ll keep pushing to improve VCU for its students. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at sgapresident@vcu.edu.