April 8, 2021, Student Senate held their semesterly Senior Leadership Meeting via Zoom. This meeting began with general presentations from Vice President of Enrollment John Champoli and Vice President of Finance Jerry Silberman, and then the rest of the meeting was a question and answer session based on the following topics: COVID-19 Response, Longevity of Majors, Future Construction Projects and general question and answer.
Champoli began with a PowerPoint about the year’s enrollment so far, stating that deposits are increasing this year over the last few. The total number of incoming students is up 25.9 percent from the same time last year with a total of 282 new students so far. The number of transfers specifically is also up 10 percent. The top five majors that individuals have been choosing so far are: pre-med, undecided, psychology, engineering and biology. He also stated that tours are going to change their route a bit so that prospective students can see a model dorm room that has been set up in the Baugher Student Center. They will be going in and out of separate stairwells so that they do not see many students on the way. This is in addition to tours beginning to go into the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being a few weeks ago.
Silberman then presented on the finances at the College for the year, stating that COVID-19 has majorly impacted the College’s financial status and that the school is coming in under budget in many different expense areas this year, though he is expecting increasing expenses next year. The College received $1.2 million in emergency funds for this year and fundraised $1.4 million, which was above expectations. The Power of One Day was a success, garnering around $500,000 in donations.
The student leader of this meeting, sophomore Gavin O’Brien, introduced the first topic about the COVID-19 response and the Senior Leadership Team responded to the general question first with President Cecilia McCormick, who made sure students know that the College is still following Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines when it comes to the pandemic. Silberman then spoke as a member of the COVID-19 Taskforce, mentioning that an update about interhall visitation will be released, and he commended the students for following guidelines on campus.
Special Assistant to the President & Executive Director for Government, Corporate & Board Relations Ryan Riley mentioned that most of the campus community are able to get the vaccine at this point and especially after April 19, yet Etown is not yet announcing whether or not they will be required for next school year. He said that if anyone needs assistance getting to their shot to contact Vice President of Student Life Celestino Limas.
The second major topic introduced was the longevity of majors at the College. McCormick began this topic by stating that programs will be reevaluated every three years and that the liberal arts are still important at the College. Vice President of Academic Affairs Betty Rider then added that the reconsideration of majors was very necessary and that the school is working to serve the students as well as possible.
As for the topic of future construction projects, McCormick stated that there will be projects done this upcoming summer including replacing the Zug, Leffler Chapel and Founders A and B roofs, upgrading the turf on Wolf Field, lighting and window replacements around campus where needed and renovating various SDLCs. Royer Hall is on the list of buildings that they would like to fix very soon, but it will not be happening this year.
Over this upcoming summer, the College is hoping to fund some camps for students as well as hosting camps for different organizations who would like to come to campus. Unlike previous years, Hersheypark will not be housing students at Etown this year because of COVID-19.
After talking about those main topics, there was a period for general question and answer because the meeting was almost over. Students asked relevant questions about student employment opportunities, the presence of senior leadership on campus and more during this time.
