DePauw Student Government (DSG) is on the move towards reaching the student body.
DSG senators are not only creating new twitter accounts to represent each grade, but they are also building relationships with cultural student organizations on campus and holding an open conversation about reconstructing the structure of the Senate.
"Creating twitter accounts allows students to feel more involved on campus and gives them opportunities they might not have known about," said first-year senator Charlie Douglas. "It allows us as senators the ability to have a more fluid relationship with the student body."
Not only do DePauw senators hope that twitter accounts will help bridge communication gaps between the student body and student government, but they also plan on reaching out specifically to organizations that represent diverse student groups. The Senate Chamber acknowledges these voices as key to gaining a fuller understanding of student opinion.
"The goal is to hear problems right away or attend a meeting and get feedback to utilize it," Student-body President Walker Chance said. "It is hard to vocalize these problems, so maybe a singular representative will help solve these problems."
In the DSG meeting held on Sunday night, Alumni Board member Freedom Smith visited and spoke about initiating a series of visits from Alumni Board representatives. These visits should help bridge the gap between alumni and students.
Smith spoke about the Evertrue application that will be open for seniors looking to make connections with DePauw aluni this coming March.
"[There is this] notion that alumni are scary people that are very important," Chance said, "but they have all had the same or similar experiences that most students at DePauw [have]. They are just as curious about student life as we are about the professional world, so we are trying to increase networking and interactions on the professional level as well as a more personal mentor level."
Recently, DSG has been holding open conversations about changing the structure of senate. Last night this conversation continued with a discussion on possibly creating standing committees to restructure the senate's internal structure.
The committees would cover four to five broad categories such as academic, sustainability, student life and professional development.
"Now what we are trying to do is create a more focused model," Chance said. "You have general senate, then you have the ability to break it down into smaller committees for specific issues. These committees will hopefully model faculty and student committees, but also different aspects on campus."