Kim Redford, Director of User Support Services, joined the Student Government Association (SGA) for their meeting Tuesday. She overviewed several technology changes, including Blackboard upgrades, Microsoft software, and myLongwood portal replacement.
Longwood will be upgrading to Blackboard 9.1 May 10-12. It will officially launch in the fall. It will have some major changes, but Redford assured it will still be Blackboard at the core. It will be a user friendly system with some graphical interface chances and new navigation buttons. Training videos through YouTube will be available online to assist people in learning how to manage the new system
Redford also discussed some changes in Microsoft software. Right now the software is available to students for $6 and it also comes preloaded on Longwood Dell laptops. The discs are still available, but those discs will only be available until June, when the campus agreement runs out. The campus agreement will not be renewed in an effort to save costs. An Office Professional Suite is expected to be offered. Redford guesses the package would cost between $79 and $129. Keep checking back with The Rotunda for more information.
Longwood will also be changing their portal site. The myLongwood portal has been used for about four years. MyCampus is another portal option that offers different features than myLongwood. Both portals will be up and running simultaneously in the fall. MyLongwood and MyCampus will be available to students, and they can use either. MyLongwood, however, will slowly be phased out and MyCampus is expected to be used for registration in October.
Three girls came forward during an open forum segment to discuss their English 400 project. They would like to see a Red Cross certification course offered to students on campus. A semester-long class is currently offered, but the girls expressed concern about the fact that some people could not fit it in their schedule and it comes with the cost of semester tuition for a one-credit class. They shared that 150,000 people die every year due to lack of first aide care and CPR can double or triple their chance to live. They want to see a one-day, six to eight hour class available for about $60 per participant.
Senior Peter Mancuso came to express his frustrations with what he called the "Medallion Bailout," referring to when the SGA picked up the tab for the Judicial Board and Honor Board medallions since there was no other way to pay for them at the time. "We feel like it's unacceptable for a student government to go against their own constitution," said Mancuso. He went on to say that he does not feel like the SGA would bail out any other organization in this situation. He wants to see a plan laid out in future to deal with issues like this one.
Mancuso said he felt like Greeks in particular would never been granted the same courtesy. President Ben Brittain said, "I don't want us to look at Greeks any differently." Mancuso said he understands that, but he wanted to express that a large percentage of the general student body feels like the Greek system is viewed differently.
Senior Sarah Nicholls, Mainstage Director of Lancer Productions, came to promote a "Keep Our Tuition Low" event. The rally will be held on Thursday, April 21 at 5 p.m., either on the back patio of Lankford Student Union or in Lancer Café, depending on the weather. At the rally, students will be able to sign a petition to keep tuition low, listen to performers and support the cause in general.Kyle Yantis came forward to express his concerns about the retention of students. He heard that 65 percent of the freshman class dropped out over winter break, and although the Senate was not confident that the number was correct, Brittain expressed that even one student dropping out is too much. Yantis suggested that going down to a Division II school would help save costs, although a senator argued that being Division I has a large draw for the school. The main goal that came out of this conversation was how to improve retention rates, and the SGA will continue to pursue that matter.
Chair of Honor Board Allie Smith and Chair of Judicial Board Nick Snead came forward to express concerns about the SGA election process. Neither of the chairs were given names of the candidates prior to the elections, so they were unable to check GPAs or to see if any of the candidates were on disciplinary probation. Snead explained that now he has 12 vacancies. Smith and Snead felt like they were left out of the recruitment process and therefore did not get as many candidates to run in the elections.
Matt Hovey announced the Phi Mu Delta Interest Group constitution was approved.
The Legislative Affairs Committee decided to back the Medical Amnesty Bill, which had a second reading. See page 3 for more information on the bill.
The next SGA meeting will be Tuesday, April 12 at 3:45 p.m. in the BC Rooms of the Student Union.
