The ETSU Student Government Association passed five new resolutions this week and did two first-reads.
With only one meeting left this semester, things in the senate are drawing to a close. The resolutions that passed are SSR-16-002 through SSR-16-006.
SSR-16-002 relates to potential parking improvements that can be made by further encouraging faculty and staff carpooling. SSR-16-003 suggests implementing supplemental instruction (SI) for chemistry classes at ETSU, a bill requested by the junior senate.
Two proposals, SSR-16-003 and SSR-16-004, were related to sustainability. These resolutions covered banning Styrofoam on campus, an initiative Sodexo is already working toward, and tracking ETSU’s energy usage, respectively.
The final resolution that passed, SSR-16-005, took into account one of the suggestions from the teaching research group that presented during open forum a few weeks prior. The resolution provides a new addition to the ETSU mission statement that reflects a focus on teaching in the university.
The last two resolutions of the semester, SSR-16-007 and SSR-16-008, include performing research on a wearable safety device that could be rented out to students in order to reduce crime, and improving the retention rate for international students by allocating more resources for the international affairs office, and not limiting international students to that department alone, respectively.
These resolutions will be up for vote at the last meeting of the semester, which will occur the week after next.
During open forum, representatives from Sodexo came and gave a report on their customer satisfaction survey for the fall of 2016. The survey had 440 respondents and measured a variety of factors, from how satisfied students were with food services overall to quality of ingredients.
“In all the time I’ve been involved in SGA, around three years, that was the first time food services has come to share feedback with you,” said Jeff Howard, associate vice president of student engagement, of the presentation.
The feedback in the presentation included areas of strength for Sodexo: quality of ingredients, taste of dishes and consistency of food quality, as well as areas that need improvement: value for money, menu variety at each meal and variety throughout the week.
Overall satisfaction was found to be at 85 percent, with 77 percent being the average at comparable universities.
During the last meeting set for Nov. 29, secretary Emily Marmon will deliver the final financial report and the senate will conclude all business until the spring semester begins.
