Paul Bieniek
pbb001@marietta.edu
Whether they represent an urban congressional district of millions or a tiny neighborhood in a small town, elected officials need to hear about which issues are important to their constituents so they can adequately represent them. Those who represent students at Marietta College are no exception. To help facilitate this process, SGA hosted a town hall meeting Nov. 24 in McDonough Auditorium for students to both speak out and learn about what issues their representatives have already been addressing.
Before the event began, student body President Taylor Myers described why he thought the event was an improvement from past efforts by SGA to connect with students and make sure their voices are heard.
“We used to have something called ‘Student Speak Out,’ but that wasn’t very productive because it was a very informal process of airing complaints,” he said. “This is a new way to bridge the communication gap where we can hear issues and concerns in an organized forum, and then do the proper follow-up to have a more formal and complete response that really takes care of the problem.”
In the meeting itself audience members asked questions and made comments to members of the SGA Executive Board who were seated on stage, who then gave responses. SGA Class Reps were also on hand to hear feedback from the student body.
Questioned about the progress SGA has made on addressing concerns about on-campus dining, Myers reported that the college’s administration “enjoyed” the dining reform proposal created by SGA’s Culinary Committee. In response they have created an “Emergency Dining Taskforce.” He added that the college and Parkhurst Dining are open to implementing some changes as soon as next semester (Spring 2015), including expanding weekend hours at Gilman and potentially allowing meal swipes to be used in the Chlapaty Café during non-rush hours.
One audience member asked about the possibility of having a student representative on the Board of Trustees. Sophomore SGA Parliamentarian Joey Casavecchia said he had researched other colleges and found that student governments typically have a representative on their school’s BOT, but are not given voting powers. Myers claimed that since any potential student BOT rep would not be able to vote, SGA will not pursue this issue at the present time.
The college’s enrollment situation was also discussed. Myers asserted that one of SGA’s primary roles on any issue is to “take down rumors and spread truth.” He stressed that it is important to remember that the current administration inherited a tough situation, and noted that the new VP for Enrollment Ron Patterson is already implementing positive reforms. He concluded it is SGA’s job to help show students that “while there are problems, things are largely moving in the right direction.”
Students who came to the meeting were generally pleased, but noted that poor attendance detracted from the event.
“I thought it was great that Student Government put something like this on, but considering that there aren’t many students here I think it didn’t achieve what it set out to do,” sophomore Riley Osborn said. “But I hope they continue doing things like this because it is much more productive than writing comment cards… I think this is finally bridging the gap of getting knowledge to the students.”
Junior broadcasting major Brittany Waugaman expressed similar sentiments.
“I really liked that they talked frankly about problems that Marietta College has and it was pretty enlightening to learn about what SGA actually does, but I wish more people had attended,” she said. “It’s getting close to finals and I know there were a lot of events going on tonight including a band concert, so it probably wasn’t the best time in the semester to have an event like this.”
Myers said SGA would likely hold another Town Hall Meeting “during a less stressful time” next semester.
