Earlier this November, the ETSU Student Government Association met to discuss some quality of life issues that were indicated to lessen the enjoyment of some students’ overall experiences at ETSU.
The meeting ensued with SGA President Mason Mosier and other students affiliated with campus organizations discussing serving alcohol at sports events.
ETSU is a dry campus, meaning there is no sale or possession of alcohol allowed on the grounds, and the SGA noted how this could be a financial setback for not just ETSU, but local businesses. They discussed how small businesses near campus could profit from the sale of alcohol at athletic events with sponsorships, and how ETSU’s earnings could be allocated toward more than just athletics.
“I think it’s an amenity for students and alumni alike. It says that we trust our students and our alumni, and if we can trust them with this, then we can start lowering regulations across the board that I would say negatively impact the student body,” said Mosier.
Fatal attendance, the idea that a student’s grade will be intentionally lowered by a professor if an attendance policy is broken, was the next topic of debate. Those present unanimously agreed that professors should look for solutions to an attendance issue, not student penalties.
They suggested that, especially during present times, professors be more lenient about online supplementary instruction when attendance cannot be upheld by a student for whatever reason. They did not advocate for this as a lazy alternative to showing up for class, but rather as some slack given to those who, under extraneous circumstances, cannot show up for a class meeting.
This allowed them to segue into a majorly influential aspect of being a student today; mental health accommodations.
Presently, there are an abundance of college-age adults, not just students at ETSU, who are in need of mental health resources. ETSU offers those enrolled free access to mental help through the Counseling Center.
Unfortunately, there are at times more people desiring mental health care than there are people to provide it. The waiting period for someone to have an appointment sometimes spans over months.
The SGA proposed ETSU look into outsourcing counselors from other institutions to help combat the long wait times for students in need.
Parking, a hot-topic for most students at ETSU, was next on the list. There was agreement that current student parking does not accommodate accessibility.
SGA had many suggestions for bettering student parking. Some of those were an app for the Bucshot bus service so that students could better understand how it functions, a student-employed driving service, like Uber, and lessening the amount of or relocating some of the faculty and visitor parking spots.
Following this, they brought up the CPA’s current dress code policy. Since 2010, the dress code has been accredited to maintain healthy and safe conditions for exercising, but the policy is “silly, sexist and problematic,” said Grace Lewis, Chair of ETSU’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America.
“When you look at that dress code, what does it outline? It just says you cannot show your bare midriff, you cannot wear just a sports bra, so who is that targeting,” asked Lewis.
They suggested that the CPA encourage more routine equipment cleaning versus the enforcement of self-moderation to combat cleanliness.
The closing discussion was about minimum wage on campus. The point was argued that wages are not distributed fairly across campus, that there is no incentive for students to work on campus other than convenience and the minimum wage should be higher.
“What reason do we have not to? It’s only going to benefit the university. Where are student workers going to spend the money they earned from the university? And that’s right back into the university,” said Rachel Harrington, President of Turning Point USA at ETSU.
The SGA Suite is located in the D.P. Culp Student Center in room 249 on the second floor. They readily accept any suggestions for future topics in meetings.
