Today is the debate between the four teams running for the position of Student Government President and Vice President!
Participants are:

• Alex Van Hook, running for president with his running mate, Timothy Holmes for vice president.
• Paul Darragh, running for president with his running mate, Nic Cifranic for vice president.
• Shannon Harrington, running for president with her running mate, Lauren Brockbank for vice president.
• Tegan Spinner, running for president with his running mate, Laura Arciniegas for vice president.

For all intents and purposes, the abbreviations for each speaker will be:

M – moderator
PD – Paul Darragh
NC – Nicholas Cirfranc
TS – Tegan Spinner
LA – Laura Ariciniegas
SH – Shannon Harrington
SB – Lauren Brockbank
AV – Alex Van Hook
TH -Timothy Holmes

M: Welcome to the 2013 Student Government Debates! And is now introducing the candidates. Starting with opening statements

PD – Thank you, my name is Paul, Tall Paul. This is my VP, Nic Cirfanic. To be honest, we’ve had a lot of students come up to me and ask me what’s going on the with SG this year? And we can’t answer it, not because we’re not involved but because SG is accomplishing their goals in the corner. SG should be going out to the different organizations and administration and sharing what’s going on.

NC – We want to be the bridge. We don’t want to reach all our goals because we want to be always reaching out the students and getting more goals set for us. We want to attend to 3-4 club meetings each week. We don’t just want students coming to us, we want to go to the students.

PD – We want to put the student back in student government. Because administration impacts our lives and we want to keep you up to date.

TS – Hello everyone! I’m Tegan Spinner. One of things I did was start of National Society of Leadership and Success. We’ve grown to over 500 members are completely NTID-friendly. We’ve given certificates. I have the background to influence positive change on campus. I want to make everything for RIT students easier. Like Paul said, SG isn’t always noticed. Clubs don’t know what to ask or what SG has to offer.

LA – I’m very reachable. A lot of our goals are to reach out to the students and I think we’re both very strong in the area.

SH – We have four main phrases we’ve coined. Healthy RIT – this includes student health, environmental health and campus health. We want to look more into sustainability in the fitness center.

LB – We want to incorporate community service within SG which hasn’t been done before.

SH  – We really want to line up with the CCL and getting RIT to be one the most engaged campuses. We also want to address parking, an issue brought up every year, but we want to address the quality of the lots. We’d like to host an event and make semester conversion and having Labor Day off.

LB – We want to be transparent and we want them to know where tuition and student activity fee is going

AV – One of my role models if FDR. He had a disability as well and lead the country. I want to be a good example.

TH – I used to be shy and I want to help students to become assertive and address issues. We want to help students to succeed. We have five goals we want to achieve for next year. We want students to feel more comfortable with the semester conversion. We want to work on sustainability on campus. We want to bring healthier food to campus and we want clubs and organizations to be more recognized. This will help RIT become a better campus over all. We also want to bridge the gap between NTID and RIT and have more meshed students. Finally, we want to help commuter students.

M – We are now moving to the pre-made questions. Each set of candidates will have one minute. There will be rebuttals this year.

M: What population is under represented and how will you increase their representation?

NC – Students at our global campuses. Coming from the Dubai campus, there are a lot of students there that want support from RIT’s campus here. I think we need to fix the gap between the different campuses.

LA – The students who aren’t as involved. I don’t think it’s because they don’t have the access, it’s because they’re not as driven to be involved. I think we should work on getting our campus more spirited. Through informing the students, we’ll be able to show them the different ways they can get involved and why they should get involved. If we do anything, is to reach those who have not spoken.

SH – the students who don’t vote. We want to reach out to those students and make them realize that they DO have a voice. We want to engage all those students who feel unrepresented. Yes, there are students who are really not interested but we want to make sure voices are still heard no matter how small.

AV – The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Despite NTID being here, not all events are not mainstreamed and accessible. I think there should be more collaboration between the two. Maybe a “Deaf Tiger Day” where we can all be together and working together. Also the GLBT community, they need support and representation as well.

M – Why did you choose your running mate

TS – We work together on our eBoard and is team member on my soccer team. She’s always been the second loudest voice. I think the VP should be able to be you in any situation and I think she can do that.

SH – Lauren and I have known each other since freshmen year. Who better to pick then your best friend, who you trust and can put you in your place when needed.

LB – We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We spent time analyzing each other and have become very passionate about SG and student affairs.

AV – I selected Timothy because I realized it work to have a deaf VP. He’s a good leader, he knows politics and he’s assertive. I was thrilled when he accepted my invitation. He has a lot of great leadership experience.

TH – I accepted the nomination because I know Alex and know we have the leadership skills to get things accomplished.

PD – Where I lack, Nic excels. And vice versa. We can go out and talk to student we don’t know and approach them and we can be detailed oriented. We met at the Leadership retreat in the fall and we just clicked. We have experience with SG and we’re excited to get back and involved with RIT.

NC – I really believe that Paul is fantastic and think we can really lead SG

M – What do you think SG’s greatest accomplishment and what can they improve upon?

SH – Reaching out to clubs and expanding the club space and supporting the club and getting rid of the “cash cow” feel

LB – To improve, we’d like to see a quicker engagement internally. So relationship can be established and things can happen in a more meaningful manner.

AV – I think The Event is going to be SG’s greatest accomplishment this year. I think we need to improve on visibility. Town halls to gather ideas.

TH – I think we need to remember we’re gloabl

NC – Our greatest success is the Horton Speaker. Everyone had a great time. Everyone communicated and collaborated greatly together.

PD – We want to change SG by reaching out to students more. Going to club meetings and talking to different groups on campus and saying “Hey, how’s it going?”

TS – I had a meeting with Taylor and I asked to see what he was proud of. Be approachable. I really like how approachable SG is and how friendly they are. You feel comfortable being in the office. SG didn’t advertise what they could do. Not enough people knew what to SG could do so they didn’t know what to ask.

LA – I think SG needs to advertise more.

M – If elected, how do you plan to collaborate with small groups on campus?

AV – We will do the personal collaborations, I am always willing to go and be involved, to be the SG rep at organizations or events. If there are smaller events, if they’re struggling with something, we could be an advisor to help them.

TH – We could collaborate to make sure they have enough supplies to make it a successful event.

PD – We want to reach out to groups and go to multiple groups a week. There groups across campus. Students might not have time to talk to us, let’s go talk to them and support them. We want to be more supportive and less programming.

TS – Starting a club this year and growing it has shown me how you can do that. I want to educate people on how to grow their club and make it more NTID – friendly. We want to do training to show clubs and orgs. how to include NTID and NTID services so they can be more inclusive.

LB – We knew visiting smaller clubs was essential. So that’s what we’ve been doing. They hvae different needs. Having training for smaller orgs. so they know what services they have access to. We also are thinking about a mentorship to increase awareness of services. We also want to help promote The Link to spread awareness about the small clubs.

M – What are your actions to make students aware of the debit changes?

PD – We want students to be able to spend money on things they need. Like part Tigerbucks and part debit to help pay for things we need.

NC – We’d like to see the new AskSG to move to a more campus-wide tool

LA – We want to try and facilitate the change and we want to make things happen. Lower prices at Sol, change prices. Change debit plan amounts with the conversions.

LB – Something great SG has done this year is have a great relationship with dining services and we want to keep that. It helps changes more easier to accomplish.

SH – We want to get feedback from students. “What do you want to do about it?” and let them tell us what they want to see done with the debit.

AV – There’s nothing we can do to change the debit. It’s a law. We can do things to make it easier to help students get off campus. We can set up collaboration to help reduce the cost of food on campus already.

M – If elected how do you plan to help with the conversion?

TS – This is one of main platform ideas. 1) We want to create physical/digital forums for people to voice their concerns and problems with conversion and be able to address them. We want them to also be able to physically address us about it as well.

SH – We thought about having a large scale BBQ and hand out information about the specific changes to schedule. We also want to use social media to inform.

LB – We’re also in full support of an Appeal Board so if students feel they’ve been impacted they can state their case.

TH – We need to make sure all students are satisfied with how things are going. We need to educate students on how to use the SIS, what the codes are and let the students know how to use. We can’t drag it on because that will make it harder. Workshops, mentors and show students.

AV – We can have a town hall to address and hear issues

NC – Is a huge issue for a lot of people. We want to plan a lot of information sessions and use our sources to advertise. Free food to draw students in so we can educate them and hear what they have to say.

PD – We’ve reached out to friends who go to semester schools. We’re asking them what they’re doing to get ideas and recommendations.

M – What is a contribution to RIT so far in your career here?

SH – Last year, I was College of Business senator. I advocated for those students and have also worked with Tech Committee.

LB – I think being the current College of Business senator. I like have the small community feel and fostering that sense of community and having it appreciated.

AV – This year, as COLA senator I am most proud of the constitution I established for the COLA Student Advisory Board. It was a challenge to develop but will help lead us in improvements for COLA.

TH – I want to help improve the Multi-Disciplinary Studies. I want to get an advisory board established for that.

PD – Trying to get student involved. From Greek Life to ResLife. I helped students move into Colby F. Having students want to live in my community is an awesome accomplishment.

NC – I spent Winter Quarter over in Dubai. I handed off my senator position but while I was over there, I helped establish SG in Dubai. We wrote bylaws and helped organize them. I also help introduce more outlets in my college.

TS – My establishing the National Society of Leadership and Success. Over 500 people have benefited from the organization I created. Getting it NTID – friendly.

LA – I am proud of our hospitality suite. We had companies come and meet with our members specifically. I think I’ve helped minorities find Co-Ops.

M – What do you want to be your legacy at RIT, if elected when you graduate?

AV – I’d like to leave the legacy of what have students learned and what life lessons can be learned. And the fact you can do what you want to do. It doesn’t matter if you have disability, if you have the attitude, you can do it.

TH – I’d like all the students to have a smile at RIT.

PD – I don’t to leave a legacy. I want help students and not be recognized for. I want to be doing my job and doing it well.

NC – I don’t think I could say it better.

LA – Tegan and I would like to leave a legacy that is very fair. We want to people think “they listened and they were fair”

TS – I want everyone to feel everyone has an equal playing field. I want students to know what and why SG is here for and SG can have a more powerful connection.

LB – We really want to have a strong corporation of community service. We’d like to have a day where RIT gives back.

M – SG has struggled with maintaining a positive image with students, how do you plan to address these concerns?

PD – We want to be reaching out knowing where we can improve. The whole point of our platform is allowing students to tell us where to improve and give students a voice.

NC – I’d like to stress AskSG where students can tell us what they think and let us hear them and take their input seriously and reflect on what they have to say.

TS – We noticed that students didn’t have an SG image. They didn’t know what was going on. We want them to know what’s going on.

LA – All criticism is good criticism. I will take note and see how we can fix it.

SH – Having a proactive approach rather than reactive approach. If someone came up to me and said they were feeling under represented, I want to help them and give them the chance to tell me what I can do for them.

AV – I know nothing is perfect. There’s always room for improvement. I want SG to get to as many club events to represent and show support. It will help students to get to know us and help them approach us.

M – Given unlimited resources, what would you improve about RIT?

LA – We discussed this a lot. Our number one priority, is to reach out the people who haven’t spoken yet, haven’t talked to us yet. Reach out to those people who aren’t as involved and engage more school spirit. Try to develop events to engage more students to get more school spirit.

TS – We’d make people listen. We’d like to see everyone more involved.

LB – I think it’s important to put money back in the hands of the students but also a scholarship for clubs. To give back to the clubs to give them a little extra budget to make their events greater.

AV – One of our priorities is the quality of the food. Everyone complains, I think a great idea would be to go out and see if they’d collaborate with us on our food service and maybe send a chef. Or recipes. We want them to be healthy and enjoy the food. Instead of leaving the campus, let’s bring it to the campus!

TH – If we have someone and teach our chefs, it makes us look good and gives us diversity.

PD – Obviously free tuition but to be serious, we’d like to see rental bikes established on campus. We’d require teachers to learn how to use MyCourses. All professors don’t know how to use it and students are left guessing. We’d also like to see an establishment of videoed classes.

M – There will be prepared questions and questions from students. Candidates will have one minute. First questions, deepest darkest fear?

PD – Forgetting to put my clothes on before going to class.

NC – Failure is not an option. Its a fear of mine, but I also keep it at bay.

TS – I think of myself as a workaholic. I’m afraid of becoming one of those Lifetime movies and focusing too much on work and not family.

LA – I’m afraid of forgetting things in long term. Forgetting the past and past memories. My memories aren’t as crisp anymore I’m afraid of forgetting those connections. Everything you encounter in your life changes you and I want to remmeber.

SH – I am terrified of the dark. When I was a little kid, I mean three days ago, I get a running start to get into my bed so nothing can get me.

LA – I also sleep with a nightlight. I think disappointing the ones I care about. I love my family, friends and campus and try to do my best the first time around so I don’t disappoint them.

AV – My biggest fear is to not be myself. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t myself. There are so many things that can happen if you don’t accept and be yourself. I don’t want to pretend to be someone else. I want to be the best I can.

TH – My darkest fear is being overwhelmed. I always want to make sure I follow through. I don’t want to commit to too  much and fail.

M – As the transfer population continues to increase, what do you think SG’s role will be to make those students feel more connected to campus?

LA – Increasing the number of representatives we have in SG for those students. I want to enforce that more and have people talk to their representative

TS – I think all students need to to know they why, what and how of SG. I want help students with accepting the different cultures here and get them to feel comfortable on campus.

SH – Providing more transfer resources for them is one of goals. Having more office and areas for them. Like orientation. Having another senator that could represent them.

LB – I think its very important for students to see SG when they get to campus so they can see the campus as we see it and what we can offer them.

TH – I think we need to have a resource to help these students. A student who can help them, a mentor, an advisor someone to assist them. Whatever is needed to make them feel like this is home.

NC – I’m apart of Orientation. One part for new students and one for transfer students. I think we can help develop the transfer orientation. Help them RIT technologies. Help them know about MyCourses and housing.

PD – I want to have a club fair in the spring to cater to transfer students as well as students who maybe didn’t get involved in the fall.

M – How will you assemble a cabinet?

LH – I think it’s important to have diversity, a good representation of campus and opening those positions to the entire campus. I want a very large pool of people to go through.

AV – A great cabinet would be represented of RIT. I always think about Abraham Lincoln. And his team of rivals when he was running and he did a great job of bringing them all together, I find it inspiring and that’s what I’d like to see achieved.

PD – I want a diverse group of students that can do the job and fit the role in SG. We want fun, engaging and outgoing students. We don’t care if you’re different from us, we ant to students from different experiences so we can get different perspectives and see what students wants. We’d love experiences from different parts of campus.

NC – We’d like to choose candidates who work very well with senators.

TS – I had to build an eBoard from scratch. I needed to know my own weaknesses and strengths. I also needed to recognize other people’s strengths and how they fit within with my weaknesses. I need to research what I want from each position and who will fit the job the best and help us excel.

M – If elected, how will you connect with RIT administration, faculty and staff.

TH – I think sitting down with the president and talk out ideas we have and pass along info and student feedback. Just make sure we’re all on the same page. Because we’re all here and its important we all work together to make RIT great.

PD – I think knowing what administrative person to go to with what person. We want to focus we’re reaching out to the right people and working with SG has given us those connections to know who we are talking to.

LA – No on has been successful without the help of others. It’s important to go to the right people and ask them for help.

TS – We really want to hold administration accountable with what they are given the students. Also, letting them know what students are talking about. The administration is there because we, the student body, exist and they should listen.

LB – SG experience has made our connections with administration very easy and it’s easy to connect with them. Its something we value and can bring to the table.

SH – It’s very important to develop relationships with governing body and meeting each semester to discuss what’s going on and what we want to talk about.

M – What is your perception of Greek Community?

PD – Being a member, it’s easy to see how to engage students and get them engage with events and activities. Even if they’re not apart of Greek Life.

TS – They’re one of the most active student groups on campus. They’re great at promoting events and getting the word out to students. RIT Greek life is very focused on academics and making a positive impact on the community. Not all Greek life at other colleges have such a powerful and positive impact.

LA – We can definitely borrow their enthusiasm.

AV – We’ve seen such outstanding enthusiasm from these communities. We need to think outside the RIT community. Greek Life is very engaged and as SG we need to take advantage of that.

M – How will you help Dr. Destler reach carbon neutrality and sustainability by 2030

LA – I think by motivating and giving students a reason to care. If we push those ideas and see the arguments and see how the Earth is being impacted and how fortunate we are, I think people will be more supportive.

TS – We would like take advantage of our innovation and have green innovation festivals.

SH – Find out what Dr. Destler wants to change and also see what students want to see changed. And see how the match up, how it will impact students, how much will it cost. We want to advocate for sustainability while keeping in mind the campus as awhile.

LB- We are in full support and we want to continue it and keep it as one of RIT’s most attractive qualities.

AV – We visiting the College of Sustainability. We need to set up a new committee to discuss this. That’s what I would do. We’d get out and talk to Dr. Destler and research and see what we can do. It becomes a win/win situation for all of us.

NC – One of our biggest goals is to bring Zip Cars to campus. Sustainable cars. It would reduce the need to bring students and help reduce the amount of “clean” cars.

PD – Rental bikes would also help decrease this. And help students get across campus without driving. In Ithaca, having a recyclable bin and biodegradable bin.

M – How do you continue developing relationship with international campus?

SH – There’s been a bylaw change proposed to have SG reach out to the global communities at least three times years I think by reaching out to them and discussing with them and helping them will help make the RIT brand more uniform globally.

AV – We need to work on establishing more connections by going out to our global campuses. And maybe establishing stronger SG bodies at those campus so students there have representations. Maybe hold online meetings with them.

NC – We’re in the process of creating a committee to bridge between the student body here and the global student bodies globally. I’m currently speaking a group of students in Dubai who are really interested in increasing their SG in Dubai and I’m helping advising.

TS – I want to continue all these initiatives that SG is already doing. I want to also help inform them what we’re doing if we’re doing something and it’s successful. I want everyone to know what everyone is doing. It’s not just learning about what their culture is but what they’re doing because their apart of community.

LA – I want to help teach them how to run a SG so we don’t have

M – How will you bring deaf and hard of hearing students and hearing students together?

AV- I really want to have Deaf Tiger Day. Maybe we collaborate between NTID’s student congress and SG. Maybe have a large No Voice Zone across campus. Maybe have Deaf theater around campus and just show students what it’s like to involved in all these activities and

TH – We want to make sure everyone knows we are one college and we interact with each other.

PD – Working with the Greek Community, there’s a lot of students who learn ASL to be inclusive. We want them to teach other students to make them more inclusive and make events more mainstream to again increase attendance and get everyone involved.

TS – I’ve learned a lot over the past week. Just dedicating myself to it and I want to push that. it’s easy to pick up these skills to communicate. I also want to train clubs and orgs to be more NTID-friendly

LB – SG should take this very important. We want to start internally and teach senators and cabinets members to learn relative signs. Also, having a diverse cabinet to start will help with that.

SH – Currently, Access Services requires someone to say they’re attending an event to ge tan int

M – What is your favorite part of RIT?

NC – There are many great things. I’m going to have to say the people that are here. I’ve met people from all walks of life. I never imagined meeting so many different people. That’s the best part.

PD – I agree 100%. I love meeting new people. There aren’t social rankings. You can become someone’s friend in five minutes and I love that.

LA – I loved seeing everyone dressed up for the career fair and

TS – I love having the ability to learn art and technology. I love that RIT fosters those abilities. I love having the ability to grow both left and right sides of the brain. I think it’s unique to RIT

LB – My favorite part is RIT’s co-op. We really focus getting students ready for the real world and careers.

SH – Student Government, cheesy I know. I’ve met a lot of people, learned sign language, learned a lot about myself and it had really contributed to developing who I am.

AV – The cultural diversity. It’s really opened my eyes to the world. Coming to a college where there are so many different cultures, surrounding us in one place and all the events that come from it. It blew me away when I first came here.

TH – I love seeing all the different people, all the different faces. Seeing all the different cultures but feeling comfortable and at home.

PD – First, thank you for coming out. We really want to create that bridge between students and administration. And helping translate student problems to administrative solutions.

NC – Continue the bridge and attending club meetings, reaching out to all the students in RIT. If you have any questions, please check out our website, paulnic2014.com

TS – Thank you for coming out and listening to us. We want to focus on creating  clean slate where everyone has a fair chance. Not previously being involved with SG allows us to create new connections and relationships. We also want you to know why we here and what we’re doing. We want  SG to be recognized. We also want to continue what SG is doing. We also want to help and provide education about the conversion and also relay that to the administration.

LA – We are both leaders, in different organization. We have different experiences and skills that would really shine in SG and make us a strong team. Our Facebook page, is facebook.com/RITSG2013

SH – Thank you for the support. It’s really important to both of us. SG is so important to us. We’re very passionate about it and buckwild.

LB – Its weird to dream about SG right? But it happens to us. We’re passionate.

SH – Our experience with SG has been some of the best experiences of our lives.

LB – WE understand the importance of first and lasting impression. We are the most passionate and experience candidates. We will lead the change.

AV – We really enjoy your support. These last four weeks have been a tremendous experiences. Its really opened our eyes to what you all do. We’ve been really impressed with all that you. Research us, understand what we do. Research all the candidates. We can’t promise anything but we’re going to work our hardest. I love all of you and I love RIT. I’m so impressed with the other candidates and it has been a privilege to learn so much from them.

TH – This has been a fabulous experience. We’ve learned so much from the other candidates and want commend them on the awesome job they’ve been doing. We’ve learned so much over the past few weeks.

M – The recording of the debates will be available online starting Monday via WITR. And remember to VOTE! Voting will start April 1st and end the 4th!

Student Government is holding a Town Hall to discuss the changes to the food debit policy. Student Government president, Taylor Deer, Vice President Sarah Thomas and Director of Student Relations, Anthony Hennig, will be joined by Charleen McMahon, Kory Samuels, Executive Director of Dining Services, and Howard Ward, Assistant VP of Student Auxiliary Services.

They will be answering questions, concerns and comments dealing with the new food debit policy that has gone into effect as of January 6th. The new policy allows debit to only be used on food and drink only. This change has been made due a tax policy.

Follow along with us as we discuss the changes. This blog will be updating live and will be available afterwards as well.

Samuels: Director of Dining Services as on Nov. 1st. Basics of the decision: was going through the policies and found that what was being allowed to purchase through the university meal plan may have been outside of the guidelines set forward by NY state. Met with Student Government on 12/19. Had just made the decision to switch the policy to follow the guidelines on the 12/18

Ward: We tried to look for a way to push this into the spring quarter. There was no way to negotiate this until the Spring quarter or later. We knew it was going to be difficult but there was nothing we could do.

Samuels: This policy had been in place previously but it morphed over the years, because the idea of “necessity” was unclear. We did tax the non food items, but it still falls out of line with the guidelines. Also discovered that there was no precedent for $59.88. Most other schools made you forfeit the leftover or allow it to roll over whatever amount is left to the next semester. RIT chose to continue the roll over.

Student: What was the decision making process behind these decisions?

Ward: Tried to share as much information as I had as possible. We learned from whenever we implemented new security to listen to the students and to take into consideration your opinions and what you have to say. We can’t change the law, but what can we do to help off set the sting of this? We want your business.

Student: Have there been talks of possible changes to the styles of debit plans? Will/can the meal plans be adjusted?

Ward: We’ve already looked at adjusting the debit plan. We’re nonprofit but we need to met our budget line. If we do certain things, we could lose half a million dollars. So we’re working with higher management to help this. We’re looking for creative solutions, from you, on how to fix this.

Samuels: Lots of students have sent suggestions. People have been asking for more information and sharing ideas when the decision first came out. Debit ideas have been can you offer a plan with a mix of debit and Tiger Bucks. We have different tiers for commuter plans but not necessarily when it comes to residence halls.

Ward: We want to get to you as quickly possible. It will take time to process, but we want to get back to you quickly.

Samuels: We do offer more plan options than most schools. This makes for a lot more issues that pop up along the way.

Student: What’s being done in the immediate time frame? Is there a time frame where we can expect things to be implemented?

Samuels: The only immediate concession was the allowing rollover. As for more transportation to get students off campus to purchase more items, Parking and Transportation is being contacted. We hope to have changes within a few weeks, definitely by the end of the quarter.

Ward: We want to be as generous as we can, without breaking the law. We want to wrap this up and get this working as soon as possible for you guys.

Samuels: We don’t want you to think we’re being dismissive. We want to make sure we’re hearing you and making sure you know we hear you. I have spreadsheets with ideas and are presenting them as he gets the feedback.

Student: I assume we’re not the only universities that sell shampoo and other necessities. Have you looked into a “campus wide” debit plan that would allow purchasing these?

Samuels: We’re looking at our pricing strategy, making sure we’re comparing apples to apples. The biggest thing I hear about is shampoo prices. We’ve been comparing them to other Hess and FastTracs. They’re more comparative because they’re convenience stores. But we’re also looking at the prices at Wegmans and Target prices to make sure we’re in line. We don’t want to squeeze ever cent out of you. We’re going to look very very in to detail.

Ward: We may be able to do it later down the line, but not at this time with the money already in it’s current state.

McMahon: Check out other universities pricing. Some have stores that only sell the non food items so there’s not question about what we can spend our money on etc.
I grew up with the development of the Tigerbucks and the debit plans in response to the students. We’re also looking into how the semester will change buying patterns, etc. to fit you better, but we also need to study that when we come to it.

Ward: We are looking to make immediate changes though too. We don’t have to wait until semesters to change some things.

Student: Would it possible to implement an all Tigerbucks meal plan?

Ward: As of now, no. Since we can use Tigerbucks off campus, there’s logistically things that come into play, but we’ll definitely look into it and see if we can make changes. Right now, if you paid everything with Tigerbucks, you’d be paying more.

Student: Could we lower the overall amount of debit? We have tons of rollover as it is, and with the new rollover plan, we might be left with a ton of debit left at the end of stay here?

Samuels: We’ve been trying to figure out which plans are impacted most like you’re saying. Each plan is different so when we look at it overall, it looks like the amount students are spending on non food, is miniscule. Once we look at individual plans we see that those students are spending much more than others on non food items.

Student: How much money do students blow through during week seven, eight?

Samuels: We look at the spending through weeks 1-8 and also from week 8 to the end of the quarter. We’re looking at it quarterly and we want to figure out where the sweet spot is so we can give you the right amount. We don’t want to give you too little or too much. The meal plans are broken down to be able to use $19 a day. Some students it’s too much, for some it’s too little. The structure of location also plays into it. We only have one main dining hall.

Student: The time frame has made it need to happen really quickly, with the rapid change what kind of coordination is being done to make health needs (medicine, contraceptives etc.) that students may have gone to the Corner Store to pick up?

Samuels: We need to put out there that you can get contraceptives at the health center and other areas on campus, not just the stores.

Student: Would there be a change in the mandatory status of needing a meal plan in residence hall?

Ward: That wouldn’t be changing. Since there isn’t a kitchen or anything, that won’t be changing.

Samuels: There are different tiers though.

Student: Have you thought of offering different food items? For instance, Global Village Market offers fresh produce, have we looking into adding more options to attract more people to the meal plans?

Samuels: Absolutely. We’re looking at convenience stores adding new lines and even our production units. We’re going to try and roll them out as quickly as possible to give you as many option.

Ward: We’re also looking at offering locations with longer hours too. We’d like to have your feedback about these things. For instance, your feedback on Midnight Oil.

Student: I see this really hurting upperclassmen the most. They only have so many options available to them. Are there any possibilities for options? Also, will the only accepting cash to a certain point be changing?

Samuels: Yes. We’ve changed that policy. They now accept money until they close. Check it out! There are some options for upperclassmen but they’re the 10, 12, 14 and unlimited plans and not a lot of upperclassmen chose those ones.

Student: (On Co-Op, not spending much time on campus but lives in dorms with 1,500 plan) Since whatever amount is left can be rolled over, will there be a lower price for spring?

McMahon: If you’re on Co-Op, we can make concessions. Also, if you live on campus or you’ve received a Pell Grant, make an appointment and we discuss the changes.

Student: It’s pretty difficult to eat vegetarian on campus, when will be see some of the suggestions we made dealing with product options for us? And with Sol offering a lot of non food items, will they be re-stocking the store based on needs?

Samuels: Definitely send along any suggestions. We definitely want to offer more vegan and vegetarian options. As for Sol’s we’re going to be monitoring and see how the buying habits there will go. Any suggestions please send them along. We will listen and looking into them and try to implement. The more feedback we get, the less guesswork we have to do when it comes to giving you what you want. January 18th, we’re meeting with all the schools in the area at Cornell to discuss strictly vegan and vegetarian options on campus.

Ward: We’re looking all different options, like bringing in visiting chefs who do upscale vegetarian and vegan options. These could be immediate.

Student: What is the fate of these stores on campus that primarily non food items?

Samuels: It’s hard to say right now, but it could be reevaluate and restructure the stores. Its definitely a wait and see. I’m looking at the financials frequently and meeting with my staff frequently as well to monitor the situation. It’s definitely a challenging time but an opportunity to change up.

Ward: Again, please send feedback and suggestions to us. Come up and introduce yourself and say hello!

Deer: We called this meeting to get as much feedback as possible to make the plans as best as possible. There’s only 50-60 of you here now, but there’s thousand of students that are on meal plans. Tell your friends, ask them for suggestions, tell us and we’ll get in contact and pass it on. Let us know!

Ward: One of the reasons we hired Kory was because he’s not 50 years old. He’s been awesome at interpreting what you guys want so don’t be afraid to reach out to you.

OCASA

At the beginning of last quarter, the On-Campus Apartment Student Association underwent a change. They created two organizations. One, remained OCASA, while a new organization Association for Commuter Engagement formed.

OCASA has moved to 113 Riverknoll and a location in Colony as well. Since the split, OCASA has been working much more closely with the Residence Life. Their adviser is Brandon Kotler. They serve Colony, UC, Global Village, Perkins and RIT Inn. Their office offers free printing, free coffee and free tea and access to a microwave and  a refrigerator.

Their current e-board has been solidified and they’ve been working to get their organization reorganized and refocused on on-campus apartment students.

President: Shamoy David ocasapres@rit.edu
Vice President: Quinte Osborne ocasavp@rit.edu
Member at Large: Matthew Woodward ocasarep@rit.edu
Director of Finance: Jorge Sandoval ocasafin@rit.edu
Director of Communications: Corrine Newbegin ocasacomm@rit.edu
Director of Programming: Nick Gawreluk ocasaprog@rit.edu

Make sure to check them out at some of these events:

Chocolate on Ice 12/15/12
They’ll be hosting the photo booth table and the cupcake building table! Yummy!

Office Warming/Game Night 01/11/13
Learn more about OCASA, hang out and play some games

Ski Trip with ACE and ACA – no date yet.
Will be travelling to Bristol, NY. Their main goal is to make this affordable and fun!

If you have any questions, make sure to check out their Facebook, Twitter and RIT pages!

Association for Commuter Engagement

ACE, the second organization formed from the split focuses on students who are living off campus. Angelic Brown is the current president and Tamara Dressner is the vice president. They are looking to fill the following positions before break:

• Publicity Coordinator

• Financial Director

• Representative at large

ACE wants to engage the commuter audience and receive feedback about services and facilities for off campus students. However, ACE has no access to their addresses unless the students approach them.

To combat this, ACE will be holding an open forum to allow students to provide their information. The next forum is today (12/14) 10am-12pm. Check out more information via the Facebook event, here.

The office will be fully staffed and open from 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday starting in Week Four. They’re planning several events and services to help better commuter students experiences not only campus but in their housing communities as well.

Some of their tentative plans:

• Off Campus Community Initiatives Task force

• Drafting a letter to inform students about what ACE is how it can help.

• Meeting with public transportation to better target off campus students and provide better routes for them. They will be focusing on areas that have limited services provided.

• Looking for a tool that allows students to report where they’re living and approx. how popular each area is with RIT students.

• Landlord Panel 101 (February 2013) – landlords answer questions, comments and concerns of students.

Check out their Facebook page for more information and the Student Government Video Update with Angelic, the current president (c0ming soon!).

With the close of week 8, all senator positions for the future Student Government  have been filled. The election results are as follows:

President and Vice President
Taylor Deer and Sarah Thomas

CAST Senator
Juneau Kwon

CHST Senator
Jamar Frater

CIAS Senator
Ben Lubin

COLA Senator
Alexander Van Hook

COS Senator
Alexander Lemenze

GCCIS Senator
Nicholas Cifranic

KGCOE Senator
Thomas DeMeo

NTID Senator
Francis Phiri

SCB Senator
Lauren Brockbank

Cross-Registered Senator
Bakar Ali

Graduate Senator
John LeGeyt

Greek Senator
Cory Sweet

Women’s Senator
Nikki Steinberger

Cabinet positions for the 2012-2013 are still open. Applications are due this Sunday. You can fill an applications out here. Note: Letter of recommendation letter may be submitted at the time of the interview. You do not need to attach it to your application.

+/- Grades

RIT is continuing its research into the benefits and cons of implementing a +/- grading system with the semester conversion. The idea to change grading began before RIT decided to switch to semesters but was put on hold when the conversion became definite. It was approved by President Destler as well as Academic Senate in 2009.
The scale would include:

A+/-
B +/-
C+/-
D+

But before switching, RIT wanted to see how this would affect the students, specifically financially and in sequence classes where there are multiple sections with possibly different professors (different grading styles).

Concerns about whether a C- would be considered “passing” and good enough for a prerequisite to get into the next level of classes was raised. Currently, a C- would be accepted. Also, the question about how previous grades before the scale change would be affected is a concern. At this time, however, there will be no change made to the transcripts.

There will be a study starting very shortly, for the 2012-13 year, to see how this grading scale would work and what it would all affect/change. Selected faculty will begin to use two rubrics: one that grades the current way and one that uses the +/ scale. RIT is currently looking for students who would like to be involved in this study.

Faculty will ultimately decide on whether the +/- scale will be implemented for their course.

Intersessions and Summer Sessions

With the conversion to semesters, opportunities for Intersessions, during the winter break, and Summer sessions have arose for RIT. Although summer classes were available on the quarter system, ten week sessions are still available after the conversion.

Considerable research has gone into deciding whether or not to offer courses during these breaks. What was found is that many students would take the opportunity to take classes that they may have done poorly in or not had enough time to take. It also would help students who were missing a prerequisite class from the fall semester or spring semester to make that up before missing out on the next part of the sequence.

These sessions would also hope to attract alumni and non-RIT students. Alumni could potentially take classes they were interested in during their time at RIT but never got the chance to take or even just take classes they find interesting. The benefit for non-RIT students would be the chance to take classes for transfer credit, high school credit, or to just continue their education.

With these sessions, RIT academic year would be broken down like this:

Fall Semester: 15 weeks
Winter Session: 3 weeks
Spring Semester: 15 weeks
Summer Session: 10 weeks (A quarter!)

Courses that could possibly be offered would be classes that students generally struggle in or classes that are hard to get in (i.e. popular classes). These courses would be strictly enrollment driven – so if one section did not have enough students sign up, it would close. This would help keep the costs of having these sessions up and running.

Helping to keep costs low is extremely crucial to these sessions since currently there would be no financial aid offered. Finances and how students would be housed (specifically during the winter sessions) are still being discussed and worked out.

Later this evening, SG will be the hosting the President & Vice President debates.

Starting at 4 pm this evening and running until 6pm, the debate will be held in the Campus Center Reading Room.

If you are unable to attend, this blog will be be liveblogging as the debate happens. So make sure to tune in and see what the candidates have to say!

For all intents and purposes, I will be shortening the candidates to their last names. “M:”, will signify when the moderator speaks.

Any other speakers will be spelled out. If they become a reoccurring speaker, I will give them an abbreviation as well.