SGA initiatives 2010: A message from student president McClure

Adele McClure

Guest Columnist

Greetings fellow Rams! This year we are focusing on several key areas important to students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and the community surrounding VCU. Our agenda ranges from creating more student awareness of SGA to fostering a healthier relationship with the surrounding communities.

Our goals this year include improving the following: on campus transportation/parking, dining services, academic advising, meeting/event/study space, on campus safety, sustainability efforts, support for recreational sports teams, transparency, and most important; communication with the student body to seek out additional issues and provide solutions to the issues.

The SGA is currently working to improve VCU’s relationship with surrounding neighborhoods. “Paint the Town Green” will take place at 9 a.m. on Oct. 30, and is hosted by members of the SGA and members of the VCU Neighborhood Team. The purpose of this is to work with our adjacent neighborhoods to help maintain them and the university’s relationship with the residents. We will kick off “Paint the Town Green” in Monroe Park and split up in teams to go to the respective neighborhoods to pick
up trash and items that will be recycled at the conclusion of the event at 12 p.m. We hope to see as many students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and residents participating in this event.

I also want to highlight our lobbying initiative titled “Rams Day on the Hill,” which is currently in its planning phase.The objective is to collaborate with alumni and current students to lobby the General Assembly and emphasize the importance of higher education. Lobbying is a great way to prevent future decreases in educational funding and
future increases in tuition.

Also, we are continuing to build on the sustainability foundation here at VCU. For those who were not able to attend, the first Sustainability Day was held last Friday, Oct. 15th and was a collaborative effort with Green Unity VCU, VCU Sustainability, SGA, Backyard Farmer, To The Bottom and Back, Martin Branding, and many others. Our Long Term Projects Committee is committed to ensuring that we are sustainable in as many areas as possible. Currently, we are working to make
the Appropriations process an online process.

As some may know, we are two weeks away from holding our SGA Fall Elections. They will take place from Oct. 26th to Oct. 28th. Elections
are held online via www.vcusga.com, where you can elect 30 new student senators to represent you from fall 2010 to fall 2011.

Finally, join us on Facebook: VCU SGA and follow us on Twitter: @VCUSGA for instant updates. If you have any questions, please contact me at sgapresident@vcu.edu, SGA Vice President Joshua Maye at sgavicepres@vcu.edu, or the SGA Senate at HELP@ vcusga.com. We love to hear from you and we would love to meet with you to
discuss any issues or suggestions that you have. Thank you for making VCU amazing with all that you do.