The Student Senate convened last night in the Big 12 room of the Student Union for the second meeting of the semester. Dozens of applicants for the Senate’s intern program were in attendance to observe the meeting. According to program coordinator Becky Brady, sophomore in elementary education, more than 100 students applied for the program, an all-time record.
During the first open period, representatives from K-State Libraries spoke about their Libraries Student Ambassador program. They are seeking students from various colleges and disciplines to represent student interest in the libraries. Applications are available on the K-State Libraries’ homepage and are due on Sept. 27.
Theo Stavropoulos, senior in management and technology director on Schooley’s cabinet, addressed the Senate to provide updates on the technology front. According to Stavropoulos, students who are employed through the university and those who had their K-State emails forwarded to an outside account are still waiting for their email to migrate to the new Office 365 system. He said the process is ongoing but that students will receive an email alert when their account is ready to migrate.
Stavropoulos also noted that the administration of President Eli Schooley and Vice President Jake Unruh is focused on combating mobile connectivity issues on campus. He said that if students encounter Wi-Fi “dead spots” on campus, they can report them on the K-State IT Department’s website.
Another topic addressed at the meeting was a pending effort to allow students to park for free at the south lot of the Recreation Complex between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Currently, a parking pass is required to park there. Resolution 13/14/42, which was introduced Thursday and will be voted on next week, would reallocate funds from the Student Bond Surplus Account to cover expenses associated with the effort.
Ethan Hawkins, senior in social sciences and the residence halls liaison on Schooley’s cabinet, also spoke on plans for a new residence hall on campus. The hall would be constructed in the Kramer complex and would extend from behind Goodnow Hall into the parking lot. A new dining hall would be built on the ground floor and Kramer would move its operations there, with plans in the works to eventually convert Kramer into a power plant.
The hall, which Hawkins said will likely be built in the next three to five years, would cause Kramer Complex residents to lose access to their current parking lot.
“As far as I know, [Housing and Dining Services are] looking into parking and what issues will arise from that,” Hawkins said. “It’s still in its infancy phase.”
Another topic discussed at the meeting were TEVAL teacher evaluations. One of Schooley and Unruh’s campaign platforms was to revitalize the program and make it more useful for students and faculty alike.
“If you look around, you see the TEVAL program is under-appreciated and under-utilized by both students and teachers,” said Chance Berndt, junior in marketing and senator for the College of Arts and Sciences. “What we’re trying to do is find a collaborative way between students, teachers and administration to revamp that system to where it’s actually useful and actually relevant.”
Berndt said the administration’s goal is to assemble a TEVAL revision task force to determine what revisions should be made to the program. He said the program will likely be online and that he likes the idea of giving students access to teacher ratings to use when enrolling in classes. However, he noted that the effort is still in its early stages.
“This semester, I see us doing a lot more research,” Berndt said. “To actually get the system revamped, we’re looking at three to five years in the future.”
