Brandon Carroll

 
Weekly Updates 02/07/2010
 
I am going to start doing weekly updates that talk about everything I talk about in my meetings with Administrators.

Updates from Jan 31 – February 6th

Brandon Carroll

Meetings

February 1, 2010

At 11:30am, I met with Dr. Wubah to discuss ways to actively engage students inside of a classroom. I am currently looking to appoint two students to the Strategic Planning Committee for Undergraduate Education, where they will tackle issues like academic advising, mentoring, and the “core” curriculum. Also, I talked with him about near-pear learning and brought with me these two articles:

http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=27899

http://slc.berkeley.edu/ucftr/index.htm

February 2, 2010

At 9am, I met with Dr. Spencer and it was videotaped by University Relations, because they are doing a story on me. I talked to him about restructuring the student organizations to ensure that the actual student voice is always heard with regards to issues on campus. I told him I was upset with the decision regarding alcohol sanctions, and how the University will let your parents know regardless if you want them to (even though you are an adult at age 18). I also talked with him about how Greeks are charged TWICE for a mealplan if they live in Oak Lane and buy out their room. He tried to explain the rationale, but we have the most meal plans in the United States, and we claim to be “student-centered.” Shane’s doing research to see how we can change this.

I also talk about my dissatisfaction here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campus-overload/2010/02/vt_to_notify_parents_for_all_a.html

At 1pm, I met with Guy Sims, who is helping to oversee the process to ensure when Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) re-register that they must tell Student Activities who their House Rep is. This is to ensure that SGA’s legislative branch is strong for years to come.

At 2:30pm, I talked with the Provost on the phone. He’s at home because he had rotator cuff surgery, but he still wanted to meet (even if it was virtually). I talked to him about the student fees and how limited the students’ voice really is throughout that entire process. Some schools’ SGAs dictate the fee amount. At Virginia Tech, we package tuition/fees. I think that in order to empower students, the school must give us some legitimate power. I also reiterated my stance on how teachers are evaluated. I firmly believe that professors should be evaluated on a mid-term basis, so their evaluation is not grade dependent.

At 5:00pm, we departed for Hokie Day

February 3, 2010

Hokie Day was a great success. I want to give Brittany, Nadine and the Gov Affairs team huge kudos for their hard work. President Steger told me that he had never seen so many well-prepared students during his time as President. I met with a bunch of legislators, and I was lobbying against a proposed student fee “tax” on students, which is just..unprecedented.

I wrote an Op-Ed in the CT about it here: http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/14950/from-the-sga

That night, a lot of people from the Commission on Student Affairs met to discuss how to respond to the comments from the article in the CT about the Diversity Summit. I mean some of them were just…awful and they are untraceable. People are able to comment anonymously, and I think they need to change that policy and hold people accountable.

February 4, 2010

At 9:30am, I met with Captain Albert from the Police Station and I brought the CT with me. I have been working on making Torgersen 24/7. Attached is a piece of legislation that was made last year to say that SGA wanted Torgersen to act as the 24/7 study facility. There are logistical issues, but I want to move forward with making this happen. Currently, Torg acts as the unofficial 24/7 facility; I am just trying to make it official and get all the vested parties on board.

At 1:30pm, I spoke at a University Development event. All of the development officers meet to discuss the Campaign for Virginia Tech, and how to finish off strong.

Here’s the copy of my speech: http://www.brandoncarroll.com/1/post/2010/02/speech-university-relations.html

At 3pm, I went over to DXpress to meet with Holli Drewry with student programs, Nathan Latka, Alex Funk, Angie De Soto, and Rachael Budowle (Sustainability Coordinator in Dining Services). At the beginning of the summer, I looked into SGA paying for reusable bags and a sustainable living guide. However, someone messed up big time and the bags are too small and the guides may not be printed. We are still figuring out what to do

At 3:30pm I cut the ribbon for the official opening of DXpress. This summer, I worked with dining closely to help them choose healthier “grab and go” eating options. See that article here:http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/13972/dxpress-put-on-a-diet-renovated-for-efficiency

At 3:45pm I went to the Commission on Student Affairs (CSA) meeting in Squires, and I was late. Right when I came in, Marco and Ellie were presenting their Extreme Campus Makeover data, and some of the members on the Commission questioned its validity. Marco and Ellie stood their ground, and did one heckuva job. We also talked about what we are going to do with the CT moving forward, because their contract is up for renewal. Also, I talked about making a portal to help graduate students and greek students who are “contractually” bound to buy a meal plan. We can connect them with the 9,100 “volunteers” (off-campus students) and let the graduate students/Greeks sell to them! SGA remains loyal to students above the University.

At 5:30pm I met up with a student named Stephanie Jones, who wanted to get involved with SGA. I am going to put her on a committee, and I e-mailed Monika about putting her on the MAC.

February 5, 2010

School was closed, but I had a few scheduled meetings. One that stands out to me is Dr. Karen Sanders, who is the Interim VP of Equity and Inclusion. I think the school should embrace intergroup dialogue sessions and let them count as credit (the same kind of 1 credit course as Creativity and Aesthetic Experience). Hopefully, through just conversations with people across cultures, Virginia Tech will truly embrace each other’s differences


 


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