The Student Senate met for its first time this year on Sunday in the Student Union Building to discuss white papers and proposals for the 2012-2013 academic year. The meeting was chaired by Executive Vice President Mark Fadel.
In the meeting, Fadel stressed the importance of going to events and being generally present on campus so senators can accurately fulfill their roles as spokespeople for the students of DePauw.
"This year, we're aimed at having Student Government maintain a higher presence in the students' lives, making sure they know we're a source of information and aid for student organizations and giving them a space for voicing complaints or concerns," Fadel said. "We're also trying to promote a culture on campus that is conducive for all students."
For its first order of business, senate members discussed participation in the Student Concerns Committee, Academic Affairs Committee and Faculty Committee. Student Concerns and Academic Affairs were both added this year.
Following that, the Senate voted unanimously to become involved in the 175th Anniversary and Monon T-shirts event, during which students will compete to have their design displayed on the 175th Anniversary T-shirt.
Every year, student government produces a new list of proposals and ideas to make lasting improvements to DePauw's campus environment. These are referred to as white papers. Student senators work on achieving the goals highlighted in white papers during the course of the school year.
Potential white papers for 2013 include issues such as Experiential Practicum, Kaplan Exam Prep Courses, Sustainability, Co-curricular Inventory the and Campus Climate.
The Experiential Practicum would allow students to intern at local offices for credit. In addition to community intern opportunities, the students would attend weekly classes to discuss business in the community with other student interns. Ivy Tech Community College, the Mayor's Office, Putnam County Hospital and DePauw's Finance Office were all suggested as good intern locations.
Kaplan Exam Prep Courses suggests bringing in a Kaplan representative to teach classes at DePauw and allowing students to take these classes for a subsidized fee. Ideally, the university would pay for these classes. This would provide students with experience and prepare them further for graduate school. It would also make prep courses less expensive and timely.
Sustainability has been described as an investigatory project. Its objective is to find out how DePauw's facility management handles water and let the local community know how DePauw is practicing green methods. Watering methods found their way into everyday conversations following this year's drought.
The Co-curricular Inventory white paper is in favor of adding students' activities to their transcripts so professors can view students' extracurriculars and see what students are involved in.
Campus Climate would maintain discussions about diversity and specific events on campus. Its goal is to spark further conversation and keep current discussions going through the academic year in an open and free manner.
These options were detailed in full in the meeting. Senators then opted which potential white papers to work on for the year.
The Senate discussed upcoming officer elections, as well. Student government President Sara Scully asked senators to go out among students and encourage them to become involved in government.
"Facebook and Twitter only reach some of the students," Scully said. "That's why it's important to actually go out and talk to them."
On Sept. 6 and 7, students can vote for five first-year senators, five Allocation Board members and a vice president of Student Life.