Winter Elections!

Elections No Comments »

Hello everyone and welcome back,

SGA Elections will be held on Wednesday, February 3 through Thursday, February 4. The Winter 2009 election packet is attached to this post. Election packets and signatures must be turned in to Mather Front Desk by 4:00pm on Monday, February 1.

Positions available:
Executive Vice President;
Vice President of Finance;
Vice President of Multicultural Affairs;
1 SGA Senator from the Junior Class; and
1 Senator-At-Large from any class

One Semester on the SGA is required for any Executive Position. However, the requirement may be waived on a case-by-case basis. Please contact SGAPresident@trincoll.edu for details.

Elections are held online and an email ballot will be sent to you on the day of the election.
Anyone running for an Executive position will need 75 signatures. Anyone running for a Senator-At-Large position will need 50 signatures, and anyone running for Class Senator will need 25 signatures.

Note: The full SGA senate will meet every Sunday at 7pm. Senators must be available for meetings at this time. (There will be an exception for Super Bowl Sunday).

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. I would be happy to meet with anyone interested in a position. If you have ever considered getting more involved in your school or amending the problems you see around you, now is your chance. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Andrew Grubin
SGAPresident@trincoll.edu

Election Packet


Printing

Uncategorized 1 Comment »

So this past semester I spent a great deal of time looking into the issue of printing dollars. As it stands, each student is given $10 at the beginning of the semester, and each page costs  $.10, whether both sides are used or not. Unfortunately, besides preventing any further cuts – an idea being contemplated – I have so far failed to  make a siginificant chang  e in the polic of hte college. Next semester will afford me some more time to freshly look at this issue. I’m going to be aiming toward some time of program that makes printing more equally distributed. Its a travesty that there are some students who use their printing dollars within the first few weeks of school (many in the humanities departments) and others who don’t use any.

What I’m looking for here are some creative suggestions on how to create an exchange program that increases ‘printing equality.’


Ferris Updates

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Ferris has undergone a lot of change over the past semester and is still in the process of updating equipment and improving the workout experience. Among the changes are a new weight room, as well as new treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, machines, and platforms in the fitness room. Other things are being worked on. For instance, new TVs are going to be installed along the wall facing Crescent St., and a new stretching mat has been bought and is waiting to be installed.

The changes aren’t complete yet. Many issues have been addressed and discussed and are either in the process of being dealt with or have already been dealt with. However, if there is something else you would like to see done in Ferris, please let me know.

Ben


Intramurals

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Remember to sign up for Intramural sports when you get back next semester. Activities include basketball, broomball, Zumba, and the Trinity Challenge

http://trincoll.dosportseasy.com/


End of the Semester

Senator Post, Uncategorized 6 Comments »

Hey Everyone,

I’m sure we’re all stressed with finals or busy enjoying must deserved rest, but I just want to take this chance to do an online brainstorm for next semester. What would you like to see the SGA work on? Nothing is too big or too small.

For my part, I would like the SGA to become more active in the planning of next year’s First Year Orientation. I feel like there is never enough student involvement in the planning of these events and the SGA could do a better job of offering constructive criticism from the perspective of students that have been through the program over the last few years.

Have a Great Holiday!

Bryce


Become a Vice President of the SGA!

Uncategorized No Comments »

Hello,

There are  THREE open Vice President positions on the SGA in the Winter Election (which takes place soon after we get back for Spring semester). These positions are an enormous commitment to the SGA:

–Executive Vice President

–Vice President of Multi-Cultural Affairs (MAC)

–Vice President of Finance

Interested in running for a VP spot? Please contact Andrew.Grubin@trincoll.edu as soon as possible.


Academic Affairs Post

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Hello all–

So this semester I worked on getting registrar’s forms in Mather and getting a student on the Reading Initiative Committee. So far, both have worked out well. If there are any other forms students would like to see at Mather, please let me know. Otherwise, we’ll try to make sure that all the forms are there.

If anyone has a suggestion for the Academic Affairs committee for next semester please let us know! We are always trying to improve the Academic atmosphere of this campus!

have a happy holidays and good exam week!


Stress Busters

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Finals are here and we all need to de-stress. Please stop by Gallows on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 from 1-3 for our annual Stress Buster event. The SGA in conjunction with the health center and various student organizations have hired 5 massage therapist, Reiki Master and an auricular acupuncturist to help us relax. If you did not make an appointment, don’t worry, walk-ins will be seen…


Learning Services

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There has been a lot of movement. Tomorrow Paul Muton the college’s CFO will be presenting the idea of hiring a disability coordinator at the college’s sr staff mtg. The Center for Teaching and Learning will be having a teaching seminar and simulation next semester as well.


Go Tech Support! Directly to Tech Support

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In order to access many of Trinity’s online academic services you must be connected to the Virtual Private Network.  I am taking a course this semester using Moodle instead of Blackboard to house our assignments and important links.  I found out the hard way that Moodle requires users be connected to Trinity’s VPN in order to access some content.  Unfortunately, my VPN connection and current laptop suddenly decided to part ways leaving me in the lurch and scavenging for a solution to my Moodle issue.

I still don’t know what made my laptop or VPN reject each other after such a long and loving connection but I do know that with finals looming I had to get these two back together.  I am not entirely digitally incompetent so I tried de-installing and re-installing.  Then I tweaked firewall settings, edited account details, wrote emails and made calls seeking and implementing advice… unsuccessfully.  As a last resort, I schlepped my laptop down to tech support where after a couple of hours my VPN connection and laptop were finally reunited. 

Allow me to recommend that you go directly to tech support, better known as the Computing Center, if you encounter any similar problems.  Tips and links for self-service can be located at their website http://www.trincoll.edu/RaetherCtr/ComputingCenter/default.htm however I also started that way and wasted allot of time and energy.  No appointment is required for service and the help desk is staffed most of the day and night.  The tech support student employees and staff are probably better equipped than you to troubleshoot your connection issues, plus they can save your sanity.


Bistro Pub Night (21+) Friday, Dec 4!

Events, Student Life Committee No Comments »

Come join another fun night at the Bistro this Friday, Dec 4!

The event is open to 21+ students only! Please do bring with you your Trinity ID!

Free food and a variety of alcoholic beverages! Each drink just $3! Pay with cash or bantam bucks!

Friday: 10:30pm – 1:00am


IDP Students Agree: Campus Climate Improved by Pub Night

Campus Climate & Community Outreach Committee No Comments »

As one of three Individual Degree Program senators, I am proud to announce that consensus among IDP students who were in attendance is one approval for Pub Night.  The first Pub Night, hosted in November, offered IDP students an arena to interact with fellow students outside of classrooms.  IDP students generally do not reside or attend parties on campus and therefore rarely find cause to interact with regular students beyond academics. 

The informal atmosphere of Pub Night and presence of of-age only students put IDP students at ease.  IDP and graduate students interacted with classmates and each other and are looking forward to a repeat of this affair on Friday, December 4th. 

Those skeptical about whether campus climate can really be improved over a drink should come to Pub Night.  December’s Pub Night promises to once again provide moderately priced beer and wine and free soft drinks and food.  Guests with proper identification are permitted to attend the affair with Trinity students.  The SGA and IDP are looking forward to keeping Pub Night active and need the support of all students to prove that this is a worthwhile and enjoyable event with real means to improve campus climate.


SGA Update: Sustainability Stuff, Cashback, Nutritionist, Gallows, Zipcars, Infrastructure Committee

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Sustainability

After conversing with the Sustainability Taskforce representative, it was apparent that the Taskforce had done extensive research and outside consulting to basically quantify all the issues concerning the school infrastructure and superstructure. These are fully included in two documents: Mitigation Strategies by Priority and GES_Trinity_College_Sustainability_Report. Strictly speaking, these documents quantify many aspects of sustainability which have been mentioned before by students. Any feedback on these would be great, especially as to which ones we should focus on and perhaps pressure the administration to adopt. Also, these documents were presented to the President himself, who said he would choose some of these to start now and to accomplish in long term. However, given the current economic crisis, he might find it difficult to commit to some of these expensive short-term but important long-term plans. That is probably where the students will come in.

Cashback

An idea which we had wanted to pursue was cashback, wherein people could use their debit cars to purchase items and then get cash back as an option after swiping. In the words of Chartwells itself, there are two reasons why this is not feasible: 1.The blackboard cash register system we have on campus  which is owned by the college is not able to facilitate this function.  2.  The bank we use will not allow us to do this, It is agaisnt thier policy.  However, I do not fully understand these reasons, and I will do more research on understanding these reasons and potentially finding mitigators for these reasons.

Gallows

As far as Gallows was concerned, we had decided the best course of action would be to install locknetics, which would make it secure and accessible to all students. It turns out that it would cost $4000 to do this, though Sally Katz would have no issue doing this once the funds were provided. It seems both that Jonathan Miller ( who was asked about this by Fabio) and Dean Alford (who we talked to via email) were not averse to this idea, but the main concern is the funding which we have not been able to secure because we were not sure of initial support for this project. We are currently considering how to approach this project, and any feedback would also be welcome.

Nutritionist

As far as the nutritionist is concerned, the search for one has begun, as Mr. Chenette has contacted both St. Joseph’s College and other RD. We will most likely have a nutritionist here, on a 20-hr basis, starting in the Spring semester.

Zipcars

Zipcars is being successful and will continue to be fully utilized here at college. The only loss that Zipcars currently experience is during the summer and winter, but that is to be expected as much fewer people are here. I wonder is there might be some way to mitigate the cost to the school during those months?

Infrastructure

Lastly, is there any issue which the infrastructure committee can address in the future? Please let us know.


Uncategorized No Comments »

Hey all,

I wanted to let everyone know that ACES is having its annual Sponsor a Snowman program.  You can pick up a snowman outside of mather on the window.  The snowman has a childs name as well as a gift that they would like for Christmas.  It’s a great way to spread the holiday cheer and give someone else a nice Christmas.

-Will Seals


To Smoke or Not to Smoke?

Student Safety & Wellness Committee, Uncategorized No Comments »

Everyone on campus received an email from Lori Clapis asking you to participate in a survey regarding smoking on campus. I urge you to PLEASE take less than 2 minutes of your time to complete the survey- whether you smoke or not.

The SGA Safety and Wellness Committee is hoping to get funding from the American Lung Association to host a program on campus which enables students to stop smoking. To get this funding, we need as much student participation as possible!

So please, click on the link below, and BE HONEST.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=cWmRuBrd8DW6rh2lmS2nnQ_3d_3d

Thanks!
Amy

cigarette-man