< My Fellow Students,
It has been a productive term for the Carleton Student Association. As it is the mission of the CSA to work among the student body and with the College to improve our collective Carleton experience, I wanted to use this opportunity to update you on the many initiatives and changes that the CSA is presently working to advance.
The CSA Senate, the leadership arm of the Carleton student body, this fall adopted a three-pronged system for working on behalf of all students. For each student issue and concern, the CSA Senate has worked to outreach to students through information gathering; to advocate on behalf of students to administrators and peers; and to act in the best interest of all students by seeking ambitious, yet pragmatic and expedient changes. Detailed below is a brief summary of what is happening with a number of these undertakings.
Budget Committee – As ever, the CSA Budget Committee has worked hard throughout the term to ensure that student funding needs are fairly and generously met. To better ensure effective allocations, B.C. has instituted a new system for post-event follow up to determine whether student needs were best met and to learn about how to better do so in the future. Contact Vice President Peter Fritz (fritzp) and Treasurer Becca Bartram (bartramb) to learn more.
Career Center – In welcoming Richard Berman, the new director of the Career Center, to campus this fall, Senator Sadaf Sultan (sultans) has organized a student working group to help the Career Center better learn how their services can be effective for students. With such great potential and energy surrounding the Career Center, this student group will serve as a megaphone for student Career service needs. All are welcome to participate.
Club Sports – As it stands, students can only earn two of the needed four P.E. credits for graduation from Club Sports despite the extensive physical and time commitments that students devote to their club-sports. The CSA held a forum to discuss the P.E. requirement and whether students should be able to earn all four credits from Club Sports. Resolutions are still being worked out, but the many testimonies offered by dedicated Club Sports athletes at the CSA made it abundantly clear to administrators and students alike that the present credit system is unsatisfactory and is in need of expedient revision. Contact Senators Peter Ladner (ladnerp), Caitlin Fleming (flemingc), and Alex Popper (popper) to learn more.
New CSA Website Coming this Winter – The CSA will unveil its new, very user-friendly, and frequently updated website at the start of winter term. The URL will be remain the same; csa.carleton.edu. This will be a resource for all students to get involved, offer their input, and to access valuable information such as campus news, events and meetings, and important initiative and financial information for student organizations and personal endeavors. Contact Senators Liv Killeen (killeenl) and Robert Stephens (stephrob) with questions.
CSA-Campus Activities – Because the CSA and Campus Activities work so closely in bringing students many valuable programs and amenities, the organizations have formed a task force to ensure that all collaborations are as successful as possible. The first initiative of the Task Force has been to work on redesigning Sayles 160 to make it a more student/student-org friendly space. This will include renovations to the physical plant as well as the addition of services to help students organize and facilitate their programming and organizational pursuits. Contact Senator Lindsey Shaughnessy (shaughnl) and Chris Rasinen, Assistant Director of Campus Activities, to get involved.
Dining – As many of you know Carleton has put its Dining Services contract up for bid in the hopes of bringing the best tasting, most sustainable, and student-friendly Dining Service to campus. Student outreach, advocacy, and action has been led by Senator Evan Rowe, Amanda Hess, Leah Greenberg, and Vera Chang who sit on the Dining Task Force which is charged to recommend to the College Carleton’s next Dining Service provider. The four students and others have led forums and undertaken extensive research to learn the dining wishes and needs of Carleton students as the College searches for the ideal Dining Service provider. The expectation of the College is to have resolved this issue by the end of Winter Term. Contact Evan Rowe (rowee) to get involved.
Intercultural Life – As the search continues for a new director of the Office of Intercultural Life, the CSA, led by Senator Chai Lee (leec), held a forum attended by Dean Hudlin Wagner, chair of the OIL Director search committee, and members of that committee, for students to share their thoughts about what qualities they want in the new OIL Director. Senator Lee has held additional forums to gather student feedback and to keep students informed about the latest developments with the search.
Parking – In response to student discontent with increases in the parking fees and some individual student complaints about parking assignments, the Senate held a forum to try to resolve these concerns. One possible solution in the works is that students will receive a warning ticket for their first offense and students who had individual concerns with their parking assignments were able to get new assignments thanks to the collective efforts of CSA Senators Alec Roman (romana) and Subinay Bedi (bedis) and Campus Security Services.
Student Health/Wellness – Student Wellness and Health services at present do not meet the needs of Carleton students, despite the genuine efforts by the Wellness Center staff. The CSA held a forum with Wellness Center administrators to discuss student health concerns about operating hours and appointment availability, medical resources such as birth control, psychological services, weekend availability, and privacy issues. Additionally, later this year the Wellness Center will be participating in an external review of its services. Student input, like that at the CSA meeting, will be the integral element in shaping the future of this extremely important campus service. Contact Senators Elizabeth Gray (graye) and Caitlin Flemming (flemingc) to learn more.
Wireless Internet – Last spring Chris Dlugosz, ITS Network Manager, came to the CSA to hear student opinions about campus wireless access. At that meeting considerable student concerns were expressed over the limited access in residential facilities and in the Libe. Following extensive efforts over this summer and fall, Chris reported this fall to the CSA that ITS has expanded access to each floor of the Libe (to be running by the end of the term) and to nearly all residential facilities. Additionally, ITS continues to work to get the new printing software up and running. Contact Senators Alec Roman (romana) and Subinay Bedi (bedis) to learn more.
Student Activity Fee – The CSA continues to discuss whether or not, and by how much, raises to the student activity fee could best serve students. Coupled with this discussion is an ongoing review of many of the CSA’s largest funded programs to ensure that all CSA funds are being allocated responsibly and fairly.
Sustainability – The CSA continues to remain committed to campus-wide sustainability initiatives including the Sustainability Revolving Fund which the CSA invested $17,500 in last spring. Led by CSA-EAC liaison Bessie Schwarz (schwarzb), the CSA is presently considering how to better enable all student initiatives to “go green” through the creation of a student-supported “Green Fund” for one-time sustainability expenditures.
With so much happening among the student body and the College undertaking so many valuable initiatives (those mentioned above and many others), the CSA will continue this winter to outreach, advocate, and act on behalf of students. As ever, please feel free to email myself (singert) or any of the senators with your thoughts, comments, questions, and concerns. Be sure to look out for the new and improved CSA website this winter (csa.carleton.edu) for information updates and to offer your feedback. Best of luck to all of you in these final days of the term! I hope you all have a restful and rejuvenating Winter Break!
Sincerely,
Tim Singer