Thursday Feb. 15, the Elizabethtown College Student Senate met in Hoover 212 for its weekly meeting.
The meeting began with the induction of two new Senate representatives, first-year Rachel Freed and senior Tommy Hopkins. They stood and took the Oath of Office and officially became members of the Senate.
Following the Oath of Office was the student comments and announcements portion of the meeting. Senior Gaia Lazzarini began by talking about how dirty the kitchen in the Mosaic House is and added that she believes that if other people tend to see this issue, Senate should put together a plan to keep it consistently clean. Lazzarini also said she has sent pictures of the kitchen to Director of Residence Life Allison Bridgeman so that she understands the issue.
Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marianne Calenda then spoke about the commuter survey that was sent out to the school’s 109 commuters. The administration is trying to improve commuter satisfaction and increase the commuter population at the College. One of the possibilities was a commuter resource center to provide a place for commuters on campus.
Calenda also spoke about how the electrical work for the new Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-Being is underway. Students living in Vera Hackman Apartments may experience some noise as the crews do their work.
Office of Student Wellness Director Bruce Lynch spoke after Calenda. He wanted to ensure that students knew about some of the opportunities that are offered by Counseling Services, including groups and workshops for physical health, mental health and more throughout the semester. A workshop is about to begin that will be about meal mindsets, and another will be about healthy transitions. All students are welcome, and students are encouraged to call and reserve a spot at these group meetings so that they can plan for the amount of students they will have.
Lynch also made sure to highlight the availability of College Health Liaison Eileen Wagener at the Penn State Health Medical Group Elizabethtown, located at 1 Continental Drive, down by the Schlosser Loop.
Wagener’s services are free for students. The doctors at the medical center are also available for students, but they use health insurance. A wide variety is accepted, and there is a number that students can call that can to tell them if their insurance will be accepted or not.
Director of International Student Services Kristi Syrdahl then spoke about how important it is for students to check their Starfish accounts throughout the semester.
International Student Services also held a Chinese New Year Event Feb. 15 from 5-6 p.m. and they followed it with a global film set in Guatemala later that night, “Ixcanul.” International Student Services is hiring for positions next year, and the deadline for applications is March 25.
Then the Executive Cabinet Reports took place, which started with senate President and senior Sean Fiedler. He spoke about how Assistant Director of Residence Life Kristen Vieldhouse is looking into finding an app that will combine Starfish, Canvas and more. Student Senate is also trying to replace the furniture in their office and include more faculty representation in their Senate meetings. The Student Staff President’s Dinner will be held March 15.
Sophomore Publicity and Marketing Chairperson Emily Perry then spoke about how Senate in the Concourse is March 14 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Blue Jay Day is also coming up and will be sponsored by the Senate.
A month ago, some of the senators attended a Student Conference at Susquehanna University. Junior Treasurer Josh Baker spoke about how he got the impression that Etown has a much more organized senate than the other schools that were present and that most school senates work more like our OSA. The other schools liked how Calenda attends the senate meetings every week.
Student Senate then had a discussion and vote about a Senate Evaluation Form. Fiedler wants to use this as a way to evaluate any of the senators. Many of the other Senates had an evaluation in which others say what a senator is doing well or what they could work on. All evaluations would go through a filter (the Judicial Committee) before being shown to senators.
Following the filter, the evaluations would be anonymous. Calenda believes this form should be structured better before eventually being opened up to the campus. The motion passed, so they will have the form.
First-year Matthew Hetrick from the Facilities Committee then spoke about how there are trailers by the OT house that are not climate-controlled and are being used for storage. They plan on building additional storage. There are also cracks in the floor of the Schlosser stairwell, but that is part of the flex of the stairs and not an issue.
