Comming up

As we wrap up February, Senate has done a lot of work to plan out the rest of the semester. Most importantly, we are discussing what we should spend our money on!! It's always exciting to do some shopping for the campus with Senate's money, but we also think it's important to weigh our options. So, so far these are the items we have investigated:
A. More renovations to Mojo's  including more  new table tops and chairs, new curtains and artwork.
B. Raising funds to combine with ours to finish out the flooring that was started.
C. Setting aside some money to purchase new kitchen supplies for the mod kitchens.
D. Installing a fob (is that how you spell it?) system for the  Mem. Hall weight and cardio room.

What do you guys think? Any preferences? We still have to check on prices and that will ultimately determine our decision but if you have any suggestions or comments we want to hear them!!

Have a good weekend! And talk with your friends about running for Senate!

- Julia Huxman

Ready for a new semester

So we're all a week into classes and the campus is settling into its comfortable pace once more. Once the hype of new classes wears off, issues on campus become more apparent. We have our first senate meeting this coming Tuesday, and we have a loaded agenda. Among other things, we will be discussing continuing the renovation of Mojo's, the bike share program, the cafeteria committee, student-announce policies, the campus drug testing requirements, and a few other issues. If you can think of any more, you know the drill.

You may have seen in Convo today, that senate has the March 18th convocation. What would you like us to do to make that convo unique? Seriously. I want this to be informational so students know what we're actually doing but I don't want one single person sleeping!

I welcome your thoughts,

- Julia Huxman

2010 Recap

Students!

The year 2010 is ending on a good note for Bethel College. Many new and exciting things have happened on campus this year. Student Senate has brought Mojo's to campus (btw they're open during break from 7:00 am until 2:00 pm... take your parents in to re-load your mojo's card!).
The issues with the cafeteria have been identified and addressed with upper administration, and Chad Childs, the official liaison between the school and the food service, has been working diligently to make it clear that certain expectations must be met. You've gotta admit... the food HAS gotten better.. at least the dessert selection has! =)
Momentum is building to add Cheerleading as an official varsity sport at Bethel College. Todd Moore is the official contact for this endeavor, and if you have interest in helping him, or would simply like to voice your ideas with him, he welcomes your conversations.
Some other items Senate still has on the table include: proposing a pet policy, and revamping the bike-share program.


As you have time over break to stop and think about how much you love your school, and what could make it better, leave your comments on the blog! Senate is ready to hit the ground running second semester. Let us know what you want from us!

Enjoy the holidays!
-- Julia Huxman

Food Committee

Next Food Committee meeting: Friday (tomorrow) 2:00 in Seminar A

Five major things came out of our meeting from last Friday:

1. The food committee consists of Ami Acheson (Student), Wesley Goodrich (Student), Trint (Aladdin), and Terry (Aladdin).  In order to better define the purpose of the food committee, we created goals for the school year.  They are as follows:
     a. Create an open system of good, productive communication between students and Aladdin Staff.
     b. Address student concerns in a financially conservative and appropriate manner.

2. If you have dietary restrictions, please contact Chad Childs, Ami Acheson, Terry or Trint so that these restrictions can go into food planning.  Examples of dietary restrictions would include but are not limited to: vegans, vegetarians, lactose intolerance, peanut allergies, etc.

3. Please try and clean up after yourself.  If you drop a piece of chicken, pick it up.  Aladdin workers clean up, but they are not your mothers and you are not a toddler.  If you wouldn't leave a mess at your own house, please be respectful to your fellow students and Aladdin staff and try to pick up after yourself.

4. Please bring the bowls, cups, plates, silverware, etc. back to the caf.  Bethel pays for these things, not Aladdin, and at the beginning of the school year, there were enough of each for everyone.  However, some items are starting to get low.  If you have them in your room, bring them to the caf please.  You don't even have to clean them, just bring them back so they can be used by everyone again. 

5. There is a new feedback system for comments.  Good, bad, and indifferent comments can be emailed to foodcommittee@bethelks.edu.  Please include constructive comments or suggestions so that we can serve you better.

Some other items discussed include:

Aladdin expressed concern with what students really want.  If comment cards are anonymous and/or do not include a date, then it is very difficult to give feedback or have discussion about the items addressed on the comment card.

It is against health code to spray for flying insects in the caf.  The best they can do is to hang fly paper and hope the flies go there.  However, if the doors to the outside are held open for long periods of time then flies will come into the building and there isn't anything we can do about it until the weather gets colder and the flies start disappearing.

Aladdin is going to launch a facebook page which should have future menus and suggestion areas.

Please, please, please scan your card every time you enter the caf.  The way your meal plan works is that you pay the school a set amount for a set number of meals every week.  You pay for these meals whether you eat them or not.  Where scanning comes into play is for Aladdin's food costs.  The more students that scan for each meal, the lower the food cost is per person.  This makes it easier for Aladdin to justify spending more money on food for meals.  This will also help to give more options for Evening and Weekend meals.

Thanks,

Ami Acheson

Meeting with President White

President Julia and I met with President White and Dalene this evening.  He asked us to come in order to gain a student perspective and share some information about projects they are working on.

Discussion started with the cafeteria.  We shared the discussion from our Food Committee meeting (the minutes from that will be posted tomorrow on this blog!).  For ongoing improvements, we need ongoing feedback, constructive, both positive and negative.  Please comment both with comment cards and on this blog.

Next President White shared his ideas for campus improvements.  He is working on a schedule for regular maintenance projects for all dorms, starting with Haury.  Please share suggestions with Student Senate.

There was also discussion about service.  Dalene as volunteer numero uno is heading up a Service Corps of retirees in the area to help make campus beautiful.  We on campus will partner with them, especially on Service Day.  We are planning a project to clean up Kidron Canal.  This is a lovely part of our campus that is often ignored and in need of help.  More information about this will come later.

Discussion was enjoyable and productive.  We look forward to more meeting s like this in the future.  If you have things you would like us to share, please let us know!