Senators address campus concerns

WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.
WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.

Senators of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) met in formal wear, March 2 to discuss social networking and residential life issues.

Sophomore Lee LeBoeuf, secretary of WCSA, reminded the senators that dressing in formal wear at the first meeting of every month adds a “professional dimension to what we do here.”

The meeting began with junior Jerry Lherison, president of WCSA, announcing the executive committee’s plan to discuss an increase of the student activity fee, a component of Ohio Wesleyan’s tuition. This fee is used primarily to fund student clubs and organizations. Lherison emphasized “nothing will be determined without the consent of the full senate.” The announcement came in the wake of a campus-wide email from Dan Hitchell, OWU’s treasurer, reporting a 3 percent increase in student tuition.

Junior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, briefly spoke about the possibility of staffing the WCSA office, located in room 210 of the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, for two hours a day. A senator would be available to answer questions from the student body.

Campus relations committee leader Elizabeth Raphael, a junior, announced the winner of the WCSA hashtag competition. Emma Sparks, a junior, will receive the Amazon gift card prize for her hashtag #WeCanStimulateAction.

Raphael also described a selfie competition that is being developed for after spring break. Students can take pictures of themselves with the newly installed hydration stations for an undetermined prize.

Paula White, chair of the academic policy committee, sent out a survey to OWU employees about proposed changes to the academic calendar. It is unclear if a similar survey will be sent to the student body.

Current members of WCSA. Photo courtesy of WCSA.
Current members of WCSA. Photo courtesy of WCSA.

The hotline for reporting technology problems is now ready for general use. Students can send a text message to 740-844-3520 with a brief description of the problem they are having and where they are having it. To receive a reply, students should leave their name and email address in the message. It was noted by the senators that this service will not result in an immediate fix, but will allow Information Systems to better diagnose internet outages and dead zones, among other problems.

Senator Zoe Morris, a junior, contacted Residential Life (ResLife) to request that the application process for Small Living Units (SLUs), known as slushing, begin after the SLUs are renewed. This would prevent students from being accepted into a SLU only to find that their house would not be returning to campus. Morris indicated that ResLife is “already working on a plan to change the slush process.”

Published by

Daniel Sweet

Copy editor & WCSA reporter