The fourth SGA meeting of the fall semester took place on October 16 in the Moore Community Room (ASAC 100) at 8:03pm. The meeting was live-streamed on SGA’s and The Critic’s Facebook pages in case you weren’t able to attend.
In Student Body comments, someone brought up that next semester, April break is ending on Easter Sunday, and that students may prefer to be home with their families rather than traveling back to campus.
Provost Nolan Atkins came in during Reports & Presentations to discuss any student concerns. He addressed the concerns about Easter Sunday, saying there was a chance it could be altered. Another concern was the limited availability of Calculus 3 classes at Lyndon compared to Johnson. Atkins said that the lack of staff was the primary reason and that Lyndon’s telepresence room would hopefully help solve this problem. Ideally, Johnson’s staff can teach more classes to students at Lyndon where there’s need. The rumors of NVU becoming strictly an online college were put to rest by Atkins, stating that the plan was still to keep both campuses with the online degrees separate entities. The online school is made for students who can’t attend Lyndon or Johnson for whatever reason. The online program at NVU is meant to offer some unique degree programs that other online colleges don’t, for example, Wellness and Alternative Medicine is a degree offered both online and at Johnson. The decreasing number of high school students is subsequently affecting the number of students attending college, which makes it more difficult for physical campuses to make ends meet.
President Kate Henriques brought up that Lyndon’s relationship with Northern Essex Community College has fallen through, and wanted to know why. Atkins explained that NECC asked Lyndon to bring some of their degree programs over to NECC around Fall 2016. For the next two years, only 13 students were enrolled in the three programs offered, with one program receiving no applications. The plan is to finish teaching the students currently in those programs and then discontinue them at NECC.
Atkins explained the reasoning behind the splitting of Northern Vermont University into four schools of programs. He said that the old structure was disorganized and messy, and that the new structure would help remedy that. The goals were to promote faculty collaboration, help with student growth, simplify the administration of each department, and create a more fiscally-sound school. The new schools are Business and Leadership, Cultural and Human Studies, Physical and Life Science, and Arts and Communication.
Students from the Class of 2021 requested that the option for an LSC diploma be extended to them as well since they enrolled in the college before the NVU merger. Atkins said he would run it by the President.
Students also brought up that the final exam schedule for this semester hasn’t been released yet, and that registration dates weren’t up yet. The latter will be available next week, and it should start around November 11th. Requests were also made to make the class schedule available in PDF form on the website.
Concerns were brought up about the tuition increase, which Atkins confirmed was true. He explained that it will only be increasing by less than 3%, and the increase would take effect in the 2021-22 school year.
Jonathan Davis provided an update on the status of the 24-hour lab. The IT staff is a tad shorthanded at the moment, but they have the computers and printer ready to install in the new space and should have the space finished soon.
Erin Rossetti came up next to do a brief follow-up to her last presentation. She provided a copy of the invoice for The Hive, which President Henriques will include with the meeting minutes when they are sent out.
After that, the financial update took place. The available budget is set at $24,442.22, and the total in the account is $57,493.22. The large difference is because the allocated budget excludes all the set expenses for future events.
lyndonsga.com has gone live, featuring all the information and paperwork your club will need, from budget sheets to event planning forms. It also features office hours and contact information for all the SGA Exec Board members. The Administrative VP position is still available if anyone is interested.
SGA will take part in Trunk or Treat here in Lyndonville on Halloween, with setup starting at 4pm. If you’re interested, contact the SGA or Mike Secreti as soon as possible.
For club and committee updates, the Sophomore Summit is being held next Friday, October 25 from 12:30pm-4pm. CAB had to postpone Family Feud, and don’t have a new date in mind yet. This coming Tuesday, October 22, will have another Paint n’ Sip at The Hive at 8pm. October 25 will also have a Halloween Dance from 8pm-11pm.
The RAs brought up that there have been repeated issues with cardboard being disposed of inappropriately in Stonehenge and Wheelock, and reminded everyone in those buildings to make sure they’re properly taking care of their cardboard.
Cultural Ambassadors Society will be having a presentation on studying abroad on October 29th in T202. The Twilight Players will have their opening night for Night of the Living Dead on Halloween, with additional shows being held through November 3. They are still looking for 5-7 stealth zombies if you are interested.
The 10% Committee shared what they have contributed so far to campus this year. They are adding new lounge furniture to Whitelaw/Crev, moving a bench over to the Stonehenge parking lot for the Pokemon GO players, and installing a Wheelock parking lot security camera. They are also adding benches to the Veteran’s Park, a stationary bike and row machine to SHAPE, and fixed the chargers in the Hornet’s Nest.
Finally, each SGA Executive Board member has been attending meetings for each club in a move to show their faces more and get to know the clubs.
The meeting concluded at 9:36pm. The next meeting will be held on October 30th, at the same time and place as usual. We hope to see you there!