WCSA – Page 5 – The Transcript

Senators address campus concerns

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.

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.”

Small steps toward change

Ohio Wesleyan’s digital infrastructure, students’ financial obligations and ice cream all made it onto the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) agenda Monday, Feb. 23.

Junior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, began her report to the full senate on an economic matter. Due to the fact that “enrollment [is] going down, [but] clubs stay the same,” the administration is beginning talks to increase the student activity fee, a component of OWU’s general tuition statement. This money would go towards supporting the many clubs funded by WCSA.

From money matters, Drongowski moved on to soft-serve ice cream. Requests for ice cream machines have been common over the past few years. Now the potential for an ice cream machine in one or more of the OWU dining facilities is being discussed by executive members of WCSA, something they are “really passionate about.”

The campus relations report focused on a hashtag competition that is currently being organized. The winning prize for the competition, an Amazon gift card, was also announced. A date for the beginning of the competition has not been set.

The campus relations committee made clear their intention of setting up a table in the Hamilton-Williams Atrium. The WCSA senators who man the table will receive feedback from students about proposed changes to the academic calendar. The responses from the Thursday, Feb. 19 tabling were too varied for a consensus to emerge.

Testing is underway for an information technology hotline, aimed at documenting internet outages and dead zones across campus. The number will be distributed after WCSA senators use the service this week on a trial basis. Text messages to the number will be sent to the Information Systems office in an attempt to reduce the wait time on internet-outage repairs.

The final announcement before the full senate adjourned was made by Dean of Students Kimberlie Goldsberry. She reported that the last week to complete a survey on sexual assault began today (Feb. 23). Participation in the survey is now at 24 percent, four percent higher than last Monday’s (Feb. 16) rate.

WCSA debriefs after dinner with board

Photo courtesy of the OWU website.

The full senate of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) convened this Monday, Feb. 16, for the first time since the Board of Trustees dinner on Feb. 12.

The dinner, open to members of the board and select WCSA senators, was well attended. “It went incredibly well,” according to junior Jerry Lherisson, president of WCSA. “Everyone loved it a lot.”

Tables for the dinner were set up in the Benes room and sat three to four board members and at least one WCSA representative. The senators were provided a list of talking points that covered a variety of topics – OWU’s smoking policy, the addition of online classes to the curriculum and the expansion of travel learning course programs – and many senators found that these issues were substantial enough to guide conversation throughout the three hour meal.

Also discussed at the dinner were proposed amendments to the OWU academic calendar. These changes target holiday duration, lengthening and shortening various breaks throughout the semester. Any changes would take effect in the 2016-2017 calendar year. On Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Hamilton-Williams Atrium, WCSA senators will be available to receive feedback about the changes and to answer any questions students might have.

At Monday’s full senate meeting, the budget committee presented the financial requests of four organizations, Sisters United, Model United Nations, the Ohio Marketing Group and the Student Led Arts Movement. All four organization’s budgets were unanimously approved.

Sophomore senator Jessica Choate, a sophomore and chair of the residential affairs committee, announced that plans for hydration stations had been finalized. The specialized water fountains are set to be installed in every residence hall over spring break. There are currently five hydration stations on campus.

Dean of Students Kimberlie Goldsberry announced that the sexual assault survey that has been circulating campus is “just shy of 20% participation, as of last Wednesday (Feb. 11).” She encouraged the senators to promote student involvement in the questionnaire.

Former WCSA senator Matt McCord, a junior, was appointed as a member of the Academic Policy Committee.

Billy George, a junior and candidate in last year’s election for the class of 2016 representative, was nominated and unanimously appointed as a WCSA member at large.

Second Senate talks holiday breaks

A guest speaker addressed the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) second full senate meeting Monday, Feb. 9. Her topic of discussion: proposed changes to the academic calendar.

Paula White, professor of education and chair of the academic policy committee (APC), introduced proposed amendments to the Ohio Wesleyan semester schedule. These changes range from extending spring break an extra week, reducing Thanksgiving break to three days and leaving the schedule as is. White noted that any changes would not take effect until at least the 2016-2017 calendar year.

White also explained that the APC “won’t generate an absolute schedule until [it] can get everyone’s thoughts.”

The next faculty meeting, on Feb. 19, marks the deadline for any changes to the calendar. With that date approaching, several WCSA senators suggested that a table be set up in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center to inform students of the proposed amendments and to receive their feedback.

Sophomore Graham Littlehale, treasurer of WCSA, presented the budget requests for the women’s rugby club and Tauheed. Both were approved.

A frequent topic of discussion at the meeting was the Board of Trustees dinner, an annual gathering of select OWU students and board members set to take place Feb. 7. Junior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, explained that the dinner is “an unique opportunity for students to interact with professionals.”

The senate also voted to suspend indefinitely a resolution on gender-inclusive housing. Despite support for the resolution by most members of WCSA, the policy requires prior university approval to be advanced further. Junior Jerry Lherisson, president of WCSA, said he “does not want to bring [the resolution] forward without [university] officer support behind it.”

Finally, the senate voted on the appointment of a new at-large senator. As a result, sophomore Diana Muzina was unanimously selected to join WCSA representatives at the table.

Fresh faces bring fresh ambitions to WCSA

WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.

The Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) kicked off the year with more new members than last semester and with new goals for the future.

First on the Feb. 2 meeting’s agenda was the appointment of several senators, a title that reflects the recent name-change of WCSA Full Body to WCSA Full Senate.

“This year’s Senate has a lot less juniors on it then we have typically had in past years,” President Jerry Lherison said.

That swing from the norm has led to the majority of WCSA members serving their first-ever term. There are still at least 10 members who have previous WCSA experience, and with the blend of veteran members coupled with renewed enthusiasm, there should be a lot of positive energy and things to come, Lherison said. That energy will be focused, among other things, on two goals: a bottle-free initiative and gender-inclusive housing.

“We are starting the discussions of trying to eliminate bottled water on campus and being completely renewable in that regard,” junior and senator Scout Trogstad-Isaacson said. A resolution that supports efforts by the Spectrum Resource Center to introduce gender inclusive housing to Ohio Wesleyan University was read as well, and will be introduced next week.

Resolutions and bills must go through a several week-long process of readings at full Senate meetings, followed by time to debate the issue at hand and make amendments. Once they successfully complete this process, the Senate can pass legislation.

Resolutions were not the only thing introduced. The executive committee welcomed new personnel to their side of the table. Graham Littlehale was approved as the Senate’s treasurer. Sophomore Andy Lowenbaum was welcomed as a senator, filling the vacancy left by junior Matt McCord’s resignation.

“I realized that the current administration and I had a fundamental difference of opinion regarding the way forward for WCSA’s structure, and so I decided to refocus my energies to better serve the organization and its constituents,” McCord said.

“Matt is still involved with what we do, it just won’t be on a week to week basis,” Lherison said. That involvement will center around work on the WCSA website. According to Lherison, the site is very outdated and is a project that the executive committee has wanted to prioritize.

According to Lherison, this first meeting was a positive start to the term and serves a great indicator of the potential that this year’s student government will show.

New goals for familiar faces

Every new Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) administration has grand plans for their tenure, and this administration is no exception. President Jerry Lherrison and Vice President Emma Drongowski, both juniors, have ambitious plans and are willing to tackle them head on.

Their platform centered on three main ideas: the marketing of resources on campus, working with the university to build better relationships with freshmen and increasing sustainability on campus. One of their main goals is to create a welcome packet for every incoming freshman, so that they would be better acquainted with WCSA and everything it provides, Lherrison said.

“Every president has new things they want to do, every vice president has new things they want to do,” Lherrison said. “So what you get are a bunch of things you want to get done…what we want to do is continue [the previous administration’s work] but also include things like the work with the freshmen.”

Both Drongowski and Lherrison want to increase student group involvement within WCSA. Previously, WCSA encouraged ex-officio members of groups to come to WCSA meetings, but both Drongowski and Lherrison said very few groups participated or sent representatives.

“Engaging clubs and having them recognize that WCSA does more than just fund them is important to us, because oftentimes clubs don’t realize we have other resources available to them, like leadership support, organizational support…They basically come to us when they need money, and the relationship can be strained between WCSA and clubs and organizations if the only interaction they have with us is if we reject their funding,” Drongowski said.

The new treasurer, sophomore Graham Littlehale will also take an active role with student groups. He is planning on increasing budget management system (BMS) training, which is required in order to apply for funding. Instead of having only one session, he is increasing it to two sessions a semester, which allows for more training opportunities for the groups.

“We would see students send in budget requests but not attend BMS, and obviously they couldn’t receive funding and would be very angry about it. It’s just how it works, we have to inform them and have a proper session, and they would have to attend it,” Littlehale said.

Before funding requests are due, Littlehale is planning to meet with the executive boards of clubs and groups to answer any financial questions they may have to make the process smoother for everyone involved.

WCSA has regular meetings with the university’s administration, also known as Archway. They meet from once to as much as three times a month, and discuss issues involving the community and “OWU as a macroscopic view to be better,” as Lherrison puts it. Drongowski and Lherrison attend the meetings, and are planning on putting in a rotating chair for other members of WCSA to be a part of this process.

Drongowski and Lherrison also spoke of the possibility of the administration having focused meetings, open to the entire student body to discuss a specific topic. They said the administration brought up the idea and are very open to it.

One new initiative both Drongowski and Lherrison are very excited about is their push to get rid of all plastic water bottles on campus and moving towards reusable water bottles. WCSA recently purchased six new hydration stations and will be installed this semester in residence halls.

“It is in the university’s long-term plans to have them [hydration stations] installed in every building and have upkeep,” Lherrison said. “We wanted to foot the bill at first to show that we really wanted to push this thing forward, but it is well within their budget.”

Both Merrick Hall and the Simpson-Querrey Fitness Center will have the hydration stations.

Drongowski cautions this is still in the very early stages of development, and many of the logistics still need to be figured out.

“I think we would be in the first school in Ohio to do so,” Drongowski said. “As an organization, we are very excited to investigate it.”