At the Tuesday, Feb. 14, Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, the SGA swore in Trevina Joseph as SGA Senator. SGA President Brandon Fry followed Joseph's appointment by asking the Senate for student opinions on SGA-funded printing in Janet L. Greenwood Library for the 2012-13 academic year. Senator Sarah Sharp said many students simply want to be able to print in other university areas as well. How ever, several senators said students would be sat isfied with free printing in the library.
Several senators rose security concerns about new Scantrons that require students to reveal their L number. Fry said it is not a security issue because L numbers do not give away personal information, unlike Lancer IDs and accompany ing passwords. Another senator countered that the Longwood Barnes & Noble Bookstore uses L numbers to identify students' financial aid. Fry said he would talk to the bookstore about alterna tives, such as scanning ID cards for financial aid access.
Fry told the SGA to make sure they, along with their peers, utilize Dorrill Dining Hall (D-Hall) to the best of their ability. He said the staff wants to assure students D-Hall is here to serve them and insure they have as much variety and freedom as possible in their food choices.
Fry informed the SGA that he is drafting a letter to Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Ken Perkins about allowing students who are one class short of credit hours to graduate in May. Fry created an SGA committee dedicated to generat ing more ideas on what information to present to Perkins. Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson advised students to also look at the policies of peer institutions for insight.
Executive Senator Tucker Dowdy reported he was unable to bring up student opinions about the current attendance policy with Faculty Senate because the topic schedule was established before he was able to clarify the topic with them. How ever, he said he will discuss the policy with the Executive Faculty Senate on March 1, along with concerns about L number security.
The SGA then approved the Honors Student Association's (HSA). Honors College Representa tive Leighan Worden said HSA brought forward a modified constitution to establish HSA as a sepa rate organization from Cormier Honors College.
Fry introduced Senate Bill No. 1, which will be added to the SGA Constitution as the Town Council Act of 2012. This act requires the SGA's Legislative Affairs Committee Chair to attend all monthly Farmville Town Council Meetings dur ing the academic year and deliver a report at each following SGA meeting. Fry said this bill was in troduced because it is important for the SGA to be aware of what is happening in Farmville. He added that the Board of Visitors is extremely sup portive of the bill.
The SGA allocated $1,100 to the Office of Resi dential and Commuter Life's RAVE Committee. Baptist Collegiate Ministries was granted $270 for their mission trip to Panama during spring break.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Pierson said D-Hall's Valentine's Day dinner seems to be a good investment for students and suggested the SGA look into helping D-Hall sponsor the event next year.
The next SGA Meeting will take place on Tues day, Feb. 21.
