Students of Concord,
It's been a few weeks since I have written to you from the President's Desk, but you should have seen and heard from me through various mediums--including the SGA Senate and the Concordian. As far as the Concordian goes, I would like to thank Editor Wendy Holdren for doing a great job covering SGA and allowing me to write an opinion article when the urge hits me to do so. I firmly believe that she is leading that paper in the right direction. Likewise, I feel that my administration is leading the SGA in the right direction. Here's a short recap of what we've done over the past few weeks:
1. Extend Library Hours--Some pundits say that we have not extended library hours; we have only gotten a room. The SGA e-mail account has gotten a couple of sarcastic e-mails saying that this is not enough, and why not have a full library? Like I told the Senate, as of now, the University does not have enough money to get a full library. If students use the extra room now, then perhaps they will. Construction will be done with a $5.2 million dollar grant to get a much larger after hours area in the near future. Large scale changes don't happen overnight; they take time. Other critics argue that students could simply use the Rahall building or the dorm lounges. Unlike those areas, our new library area is supervised and quiet. Likewise, they are available to commuters who might want to stay on campus, and it gives a student a job. I understand and am equally frustrated that the entire building is not yet open; however, the SGA did the best it could with the resources it had available to do it with. This certainly beats not having extra hours to study in there at all.
2. Buy Recycle Bins--My administration has started an attempt to greenify the campus by spending about $2,000 from leftover money to buy several recyle bins to place across campus in the near future. As soon as the money is allocated, we are leaving it up to Gary Thompson's Green Sustainability committee to place them in strategic locations.
3. Allocate Money to a Students Helping Students Scholarship Fund--This will be the first step in funding a scholarship to help Concord students in need each year. This was presented by CUSAC last year, and my administration is the first to fund it.
4. The "New Organization" Start-Up Fund--To keep new organizations from dying off early, Business Manager Belcher created a program within the Budgetary Process to allocate money to new organizations to help "get them started". This will hopefully encourage new organizations to grow on campus.
5. Get a new, capable Student Center Director--After Marshall Campbell left his position to go to the VP of HR, I have sat on a hiring committee to find the new Interim Student Union Director. The committee as a whole found Anna Mills Hardy. I look forward to working for her this year.
6. Endorse a Religious Studies Academic Program--I will get to that in a minute.
For just a few meetings, these are some nice changes. The leadership of my entire administration is great and vast, and I have the privilege of leading these capable leaders. Let's hope that this SGA keeps getting things done.
Speaking of my administration, SGA Secretary Eric Lopez sent me a message earlier saying that he has to resign because he needs to focus his time on academics. I respect that, but I wish that he would not have done so. I think that he was the most efficient Secretary that we have had in a long time. I will be taking applications over the next several weeks for someone to take his place.
Likewise, I have spent a great deal of time over the past few weeks interviewing new people to be in SGA. So far, I have appointed Jamie Reichert and Adam Pauley to Freshman Senator. I have also appointed Cassidi Hall and Kiwa Nadas to the position of Senator. With 3 new openings for Senator, I will likely be filling those slots over the next week with new applicants. Likewise, I feel great about my Judicial applicant-_Stephanie Lombardo. Once the Judicial Committee nominates her, I feel that she will do a great job in that role.
I also nominated Katrina Stewart to be Athletic Liaison to the SGA. Even though this position has not been defined in our bylaws, I plan on making it so. Basically, I feel that Athletic interests are being ignored by SGA, and I hope that Katrina can help bring athletic concerns to us as well as be part of our Executive Team.
Over the past few weeks, I have gotten several complaints from faculty that concern students. The first one is that the University is hiring new, incompetent professors who do not have any advanced degrees to be professors. Based on what faculty have told me, there are two professors like this. The first one currently teaches CART 102: Introduction to Theatre (He just graduated last May), and the other is in Social Sciences. This hiring practice is completely absurd and unacceptable. I sent Dean Smith an e-mail saying as such. Considering that Concord students pay a handsome sum of money each semester to attend a school of higher education, this University should give them quality professors. It completely waters down our degree when things like this occur. Hypothetically speaking, it would be the same as the University hiring me, an English student, to teach English 101 and 102 next year. As long as I have anything to say about it, these people will be gone by the spring; students deserve better.
The second issue deals with Distance Learning. Students who have had distance learning classes oftentimes get their classes canceled because the University staff who runs these classes are not competent enough to run the technology properly. As a student who has taken a distance learning class in Athens alongside people in Beckley, I know this is true. Poor technology oftentimes makes people lose their connections, and entire classes have had to be canceled because of it. When I announced this in SGA last week, Marshall Campbell stated that the University will be evaluating this in its new Strategic Planning Committee. I was fine with this at first, but after reflecting on it, I find that problematic. THe University should be doing things NOW to fix the problem for students who need the distance learning classes. If our Academic Dean or President of Concord University reads this, keep this in mind when you see me next. It's on my agenda.
I also announced last week that the Fitness Center seemed to close abruptly at its 6 AM opening time. I had a meeting with Bill Fraley about this last Friday, who was kind enough to show me why. Basically, only about one student used the facilities during that time. Likewise, the facility had a hard time opening that early because the student worker had a hard time showing up to be there. Once I saw the rationale, I had no problem with the decision. Kudos to Billy for taking time to come and talk to us.
Perhaps the most important thing that I have been working on involves Religious Studies. I know that most of you have heard my spill on why I think the program is important. Last week, I asked the Senate to endorse a program like this to be adopted by the University, and it unanimously (I say that with caution because I thought I saw one dissent) passed. As far as I'm concerned, this overwhelming vote of the Student Senate means more than any survey we can put out there over the program. The Student Senate represents the will and the voice of ALL students. With this vote, I plan on asking President Aloia, Dean Smith, and the new Faculty President to help make this program a reality. My vision is for a faculty committee to be created with a representative from each Division to implement the program. You guys will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.
As far as my immediate future plans go, I will be seeking to work on the above things as well as find a new SGA Secretary along with more Senators. I also plan on making sure that our committees run efficiently and that each of them accomplishes things. No matter how hard the Executive Branch works, a SGA cannot work right without functioning committees. An enthusiastic Executive, an enthusiastic Legislature, and a less than enthusiastic Judicial Branch makes for a great SGA.
However, don't let me focus on these issues only. I write this blog to get student feedback as well as to mention what I am doing. Please, if you have any issues or problems, let me know about them. I am hearing more complaints about Concord from the faculty than from the students. If you have a problem or a question, let me know. That's why I'm working for you. The key to a good SGA is transparency. I am attempting to be transparent in order to know what to fix. If you have a complaint or an issue, I have a facebook. I'm in the SGA office frequently. I also have a phone; my cell phone is 304-890-9143. Let me know what is on your mind.
I hope you enjoy this blog, and please, give me constructive criticism. It's not healthy to have a government where everyone is in complete agreement.
See you later,
Jeff
Discussion and Commentary from SGA President Jeff Yeager on issues relating to student life at Concord University.
