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WWW.GUILFORDlAN.COM NEWS Senate changes for the 2009-10 academic year By Kate Pozgay Staff Writer This year Community Senate will no longer be responsible for allocating funds to student organizations but will focus on policy-making issues. Instead, Student Affairs will take on the task of distributing funds to clubs and organizations on campus. Student Affairs is the stu dent committee co-chaired by the Academic Services chair and the Community Services chair. The committee meets every week and is comprised of 18 representatives from dif ferent clubs, organizations, and classes. Student Affairs representa tives vote on monetary propos als put forth by student organi zations. Two thirds of the Stu dent Affairs committee must be present in order to initiate a vote. At the student interest meet ing held by Community Senate on Aug. 26, senators said that this change will improve Stu dent Affair's ability to work more closely with specific stu dent organizations, and that there will also be more funds provided for residential pro grams. "It looks like the new poli cies are intended to cut down DINING on the back and forth that hap pens during meetings ... but at the same time, that back and forth debating is what made it a 'community senate'," said a former member of Community Senate and a leader in a cam pus organization. Community Senate Vice President Trevor Corning said that these changes were brought about, in part, due to dent Yazmin Garcia Rico. "If student Affairs is more inclu sive and can take more time it will be a better process. "Every year there is an Ad Hoc By-laws committee. In years past, this committee has done small changes — this year, the committee reworked the by-laws in order to make Senate a more inclusive and effective body," said Corning "It was really about clarity and giving students the opportunity to make changes. I think it is going to be really positive for our community." Senate President Nancy Klosteridis the inefficiency of Senate meet ings in prior years. According to Senate Presi dent Nancy Klosteridis, Com munity Senate could spend as many as three hours per meet ing on monetary issues alone last year and an additional hour and a half on policy issues. "I think I like the idea of Student Affairs allocating the money because Senate has to do so much and doesn't always know much about the clubs," said International Club Presi- on splitting the'responsibilities of the Senate with Student Af fairs. This year's changes were also due to the fact that the ad ministration has been asking the Senate for more policy help over the past years. According to Klosteridis, the administration's need for Senate help was particularly visible in regard to the expan sion of the student body and improving the diversity of the student body. "It's the one thing about Guilford — we have so many factions on campus, you have to advertise to reach people on something they really care about," said Klosteridis. "It was really about clarity and giving students the opportu nity to make changes. I think it is going to be really positive for our community." The Senate is comprised of representatives from each year as well as residence hall rep resentatives, transfer and day student representatives, inter national student representa tives, a people of color student representative, a GLBTQA stu dent representative, a NCAA athlete representative and club representatives. The Senate core is comprised of Steering Committee and executive officers. The Steer ing Committee is responsible for communication with the Academic Affairs Committee, a major branch of Student Af fairs, as well as other campus groups. "One major message we want to get out is we can be a community at Guilford if we make it together," said Kloste ridis. Community Senate meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesday nights in Boren lounge. All members of the community are welcome. GRADUATION Graduation rates head toward goal Continued from page I "but sometimes the students aren't emo tionally ready." One of these is the new Resident As sistant program, which keeps RA's and hall directors (HD's) updated on stu dent well being so that they can step in and assit those students who struggle socially or emotionally. According to Vice President of Aca demic Affairs and Academic Dean Adri enne Israel, the goal is to "lend students guidance outside of class when they need it." Isreal said that additional programs include hiring more faculty members for the Learning Commons and more tutors to help students. In fall '08, Aca demic Affairs hired Barbara Boyette as Academic Advisor Liaison to support students academically. Doss said that through strengthening these programs Guilford should be well on its way to the 70 percent goal. "The learning commons have gotten more effective because of more staff," said sophomore Ben Chaves, who has noticed improvements from his first to second year. Doss said that a high retention rate and these new programs look to keep Guilford on the uptake and headed to ward the goal of a 70 percent graduation rate. Collective effort helps Guilford drop “Is it food?” burden this year Broken famOies fight for immigration reform Continued from page I Guilford was ranked 4^^. Since 1992, the Princeton Review has yearly collected about 120,000 college surveys nationwide. Student responses are tallied, compared to those from other colleges, and then published in the following year's edi tion of the "Best 371 Colleges." Buckner said that the number of students responding to the survey varies each year and that it is difficult to find out if they represent a cross section of the student population— traditional, CCE, and early college. Fetrow said that Meriwether God- sey made an intentional effort to en sure that Guilford was removed from the list by being connected to its com munity. The dining service has its own Facebook page and comment cards in the dining hall so students can make suggestions/ comments. "Meriwether Godsey has been a lit tle off this year, the food could be bet ter," said senior Laura Herman. "They usually serve good food, though, and are receptive to student suggestions." Jon Varnell, vice president of op erations and facilities, said that Meri wether Godsey met many of the new standards that the Dining Service Ad visory Committee's Request for Pro posal (REP) set. Last fall Meriwether Godsey won a ten-year contract with the school, beating out other dining services Sodexho and Bon Appetite. "Meriwether Godsey was a great fit and wanted to do the things we outlined in detail from sustainability objectives, local, and organic goals," said Varnell. "My job is to partner with them and work with the com munity on dinning issues. I had my semester kick off meeting with their managers last week and had a great time. We have lots of great things planned. " Most students feel that the new ca tering service has greatly improved the food quality. "There are a lot more fresh op tions than when Sodexho was here," said junior Amelia McLaughlin. "The salad and fruit bar are twice as large. I don't know if the grill is really that healthy because it serves fried foods, but it feels healthier." "What I'm most impressed about is that they kept some of the older staff members," said senior George Decherney. "Their business is also great for the local economy." By Sean McNally Staff Writer Students, families, and ex perts gathered for a town hall meeting on Sept. 3 at the Con gressional United Church of Christ to voice their support for a new, cohesive immigra tion policy. The current system has left many families separat ed by hundreds of miles. While Sen. Kay Hagan was invited to attend the meeting, she was not present. "All I ask for is that my husband be allowed to return to his children," Sandra Her nandez said as her son stood next to her, translating her Spanish to English. Hernandez stood at the podium to tell her story for a town hall meeting on immi gration policy reform. She is a naturalized citizen but she and her husband are separated by hundreds of miles and by the current immigration policy. When Hernandez first heard the news that there would be a six-month delay until her husband would be able to join her, she thought, "How can it take six months to review a marriage license?" That was in 2006, and now three years later, her husband is still in El Salvador. Hernandez spoke about the strain that this separation puts on her family, "I worry every day that our marriage and our happy home will never be the same." It is common for immigrants to have trouble getting their families to join them. Gerard Chapman, an immigration lawyer, explained that some delays could take up to 23 years. Among the people in the audience, there were other speakers with similar stories— teachers and students affected by the current immigration system. Sen. Hagan did send a staff member to listen and report back to her. People like Sandra Hernandez came to tell their stories in the hope that Hagan would eventually hear them. Mike Palmer, an elementary school teacher, told the story of one of his students whom he called Lucia. She was having a bad day in class so Palmer asked her to stay behind and talk with him. Lucia explained that her par ents were taken in the middle of the night. Because Lucia had been born in the United States, she was left behind. Palmer asked her how, with no parents around, she got to school that day. She simply said that she had gotten up on her own and gone out to wait for the school bus by herself as yet another example of a fam ily separated by the immigra tion system. While not all the stories were personal accounts of bro ken families, it was a central issue to every speaker's pre sentation. Andrew Brod, the director of the Center for Busi ness and Economic Research at UNCG, who was asked to come and speak about the eco nomics of immigration, even made the argument that it was economically beneficial to al low the families of immigrants to come live with them. Sen. Hagan's staffer ended the meeting by reading the notes that he had taken, ex plaining that he wanted ev eryone to know exactly what issues would be brought back to Washington. The Senate in tends to introduce legislation on the issue in September.
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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