Student Senate Discusses More Than Just Funds
Jonathan Monfiletto
Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: News
Emergency text messaging and Leadership Weekend proposals were the main topics of discussion at the Utica College Student Senate's first meeting of the school year.
Elections concluded just the week before and Student Senate President Courtney Witherspoon welcomed both new and returning members before officially opening the meeting's discussions.
The first topic was emergency text messaging, which has come up in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, and has been proposed for use at UC. Students at Virginia Tech were alerted about the shootings through e-mail, but this method has been criticized because it is not instant means of communication, and because their college e-mail on a regular basis. However, most students have cell phones, so text messaging could be used as a means of notifying students of campus emergencies.
The executive board of the Senate endorsed emergency text messaging as something the college should look into implementing, since the elections had not yet taken place when the idea came up, and the full Senate was unavailable for a vote.
In order for the system to work, students would sign up and register their cell phone number with the college in order to be included in the text messaging. Registration would be optional, but those who do not sign up would not be notified of emergencies. Mass text messages would be sent during major campus emergencies, but whether the system would also be used for weather emergencies and school closures remains to be seen.
There was to be a meeting on Friday, Sept. 28 with representatives of Student Senate and other campus committees to further discuss emergency text messaging and develop a procedure to make it possible.
Next, Witherspoon asked the members of the Senate who attended Leadership Weekend to tell the rest about the events of the weekend. Vanessa Brezilus, a New Hall senator, shared her experience attending Leadership Weekend for the first time.
"It was a wonderful experience," Brezilus said. "The whole atmosphere was positive."
Elections concluded just the week before and Student Senate President Courtney Witherspoon welcomed both new and returning members before officially opening the meeting's discussions.
The first topic was emergency text messaging, which has come up in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, and has been proposed for use at UC. Students at Virginia Tech were alerted about the shootings through e-mail, but this method has been criticized because it is not instant means of communication, and because their college e-mail on a regular basis. However, most students have cell phones, so text messaging could be used as a means of notifying students of campus emergencies.
The executive board of the Senate endorsed emergency text messaging as something the college should look into implementing, since the elections had not yet taken place when the idea came up, and the full Senate was unavailable for a vote.
In order for the system to work, students would sign up and register their cell phone number with the college in order to be included in the text messaging. Registration would be optional, but those who do not sign up would not be notified of emergencies. Mass text messages would be sent during major campus emergencies, but whether the system would also be used for weather emergencies and school closures remains to be seen.
There was to be a meeting on Friday, Sept. 28 with representatives of Student Senate and other campus committees to further discuss emergency text messaging and develop a procedure to make it possible.
Next, Witherspoon asked the members of the Senate who attended Leadership Weekend to tell the rest about the events of the weekend. Vanessa Brezilus, a New Hall senator, shared her experience attending Leadership Weekend for the first time.
"It was a wonderful experience," Brezilus said. "The whole atmosphere was positive."
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