Student representatives say campus improvements will be a major goal during the next two semesters after the first meeting of the 108th Student Federation last week.
The agenda of last week’s meeting consisted of the swearing-in of officers and new members as well as committee appointments, according to sophomore and Student Federation President Jacob Beckwith.
The Student Federation is the organization in charge of dispensing funds to on-campus clubs, Beckwith said. According to the meeting minutes, the Federation meets every two weeks and consists of four officers, seven Greek representatives from fraternities and sororities, seven independent representatives, and one graduate school representative.
Beckwith said the campus improvements committee will be particularly active in the upcoming semesters.
“What things can we do around campus that everyone can benefit from?” Beckwith said. “One idea I had is improving and increasing green space around campus, because there are going to be all of these quad renovations so green space will be limited. So how can we utilize other green spaces on campus?”
Junior Jude Doer, the Student Federation treasurer and member of the rules committee, said he agrees with Beckwith.
“We have excess funds this semester, which means there’s a lot of opportunity to have a really cool campus improvements project,” Doer said.
Doer said students with campus improvement ideas should stop by the Student Federation tables in the union to give their thoughts.
“Make sure you keep your eye out for Student Federation tabling in the union,” Doer said. “At that table you will be able to come up and submit your ideas for campus improvements and we will be taking those into heavy consideration.”
Freshman Zac Briley is a new representative from Niedfeldt. After having some experience with student government in high school, he said he wanted to serve in college by joining the Student Federation.
“I joined student fed basically because it’s a great opportunity to be able to serve your fellow students and something that’s able to help across a whole broad group of student organizations,” Briley said. “It allows you to make a really lasting impact to help benefit the student body.
Briley said he serves as chairman of the rules committee, which is in charge of the Student Federation’s constitution and bylaws, and he was a member of the finance committee, which initially vets and revises student budgetary needs for presentation to the whole federation.
Briley said one of the goals for the current Student Federation will be making sure the whole budget for the semester is used wisely. In the past, there has been a surplus of funds, according to Briley.
“While a surplus could sound great, that means that there’s money that could be going out to the student body that’s not,” Briley said. “While we do want to be smart with our funds, we do want to ultimately make sure that any student group that needs money – as long as student fed still has money to give – receives it.”
Briley said students should be proactive in approaching the Student Federation with requests and ideas.
“If you are part of a club that needs more funding or if you’re looking into starting a club, absolutely go talk to your student fed representatives about that. We want to exist to support student life on campus,” Briley said. “Come to us. We want to help.”
