LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Actions Count @ VCU …

Students for Positive Change platform
details:

When the Students for Positive Change
party announced its formation and its slate
of officers, it also listed several initiatives
it intended to pursue. These initiatives
are contemplated to achieve three things:
1-better, more affordable service; 2-a
more cohesive university community with
heightened school spirit and student participation
and 3-a university experience
that focuses more heavily on development
of the whole person. You need to know
more of the details of these objectives so
you can make an informed decision in the
upcoming election. More importantly, we
need your thoughts on how these ideas can
be improved, how they can better work
for you. With your active and thoughtful
participation, we believe the possibility of an
effective SGA is significantly increased-to
your immediate benefit and that of generations
of students to come.

We want the university to become more
affordable and more user-friendly.

There are so many possibilities for positive
change, but several are at the top of our
list. We need your input for others.

First: An important aspect of every
student’s expenses is food. Many students
purchase meal plans and find at the end
of the year that they have meals left over.
Currently those meals expire and the
students lose their money. It is our goal
to change the meal plan so that meals
purchased are valid for one year. And the
meal plans should have greater flexibility
as to the number of meals included.
Second: More outlets are needed for
the purchase and sale of textbooks to
increase competition and reduce prices.
Our efforts last fall to bring this problem
to your attention failed to bring significant
results. With your help, we believe savings
are possible.

Third: We would also like to see library
hours expanded throughout the whole
year, not just during exams. With the
increased number of students on campus,
this increased accessibility is warranted.

We want to change the focus on
athletic and health-maintenance programs
at VCU.

Make no mistake-like ODU, which just
started its football program, we would like
VCU to someday explore the possibility
of a football team for the many reasons
we outlined last fall when (more than)
1,700 of you responded to our appeal. We
want to see VCU have a marching band.
We understand that isn’t going to happen
under the current administration, but that
doesn’t mean we can’t lay the foundations
for a team and a marching band in the
future. There is no reason why we can’t
begin the search for an anthem suitable
for an alma mater. It’s never too early to
begin making plans.

One mark of an educated person is
personal-health management. It is (more)
sensible and easier to prevent illness than
to restore health. Intelligent individuals
protect the health of their bodies just as they
protect the health of their environment. The
basic health habits of regular, moderate exercise
and proper nutrition, diet and weight
control should be developed now to serve
each of us for a healthy lifetime. Just as your
grade-point average cannot be significantly
changed in your last semester, your health
is difficult to change in your later years. We
need to listen to our colleagues at MCV.
This simple and sensible understanding
should be powerfully incorporated into our
university experience. The chances are good
your grades would improve. Few aspects of
our education would pay bigger dividends,
both individually and collectively. Much can
be done to heighten this awareness.

We want VCU to have a more beautiful
campus by tapping into our enormous
artistic-talent reserve.

We don’t pretend to know all that
could be done, but surely the students
and faculty will have ideas. For starters,
we think it would help if original works
of art were displayed in buildings all over
campus. Maybe they could even be priced
for sale. Couldn’t the university have
a sculpture competition each year and
award the winning student a stipend and
place that object in a prominent place on
campus? Over the years, the university
would acquire a great collection of fine
art. In time, it could design a sculpture
garden. Like health maintenance, aesthetic
development should be an important part
of every student’s education.

We want to create a campus environment
where fraternities, sororities and residence
halls play a more active role in the social
and political life on campus.

College and university students all across
the country are enjoying the rewards of
active student involvement in campus activities,
and – from these activities – they are
developing social and leadership skills that
will enhance their careers and increase their
appreciation of the value of community.
They’re having fun, and – believe it or not
– fun and positive attitudes contribute
mightily to better grades. Who among us
doesn’t believe that the VCU experience can
be improved with more positive student
and faculty attitudes?

These are but a few of our ideas for
creating a better university. But this is just
the beginning of our conversation together.

The best ideas are those that come from
you. Share them during the campaign ahead
(actionscount.com) and throughout the
year. We can create the university that we
want. We must start today. This is our time.
We are ready! Actions Count @ VCU!

Students for Positive Change
Jibran, Adam and Solle