Tulane True

This is your president speaking...

2009-03-25T14:40:00.005-05:00

An overdue meeting update:

On March 13, the Eric Couper and I met with presidents of the Business, Liberal Arts, Architecture, and Science and Engineering school government presidents. We discussed the pending changes to USG and school governments' representation- Architecture and Public Health will continue to send 1 representative, but Liberal Arts will send 8, rather than 3. Most of the reactions have been positive, and the questions from students seem to be clarifications. Mihnea Dobre, the president of the ASG (architecture) is only concerned that smaller schools will loose their voice if the larger schools and housing representatives vote as a block. The presidents enjoyed the meeting- we had good discussion about campus-wide academic issues and ideas for the future of school governments, such as an Election Week.

One issue that came up in the presidents' meeting and again in USG the next week, was the issue of long meetings and attendance. Is USG always destined to be a small group of dedicated students who will withstand long hours of meetings to get things accomplished, or is there a way to shorten meetings to ecourage more students to be involved while remaining productive? In the last few USG exec boards we've toyed with ideas of committee-based actions to speed up the general senate meetings, online discussion boards, weekely email updates on campus activities, and student-wide press like the Hullabaloo, this blog and Twitter. Is any of it working? How can we attract people who truely care and are committed to Tulane, their constituents and USG without consuming all of their time and energy? How can we reward attentive and hard working senators and punish sentors who are inactive or constantly absent?

We are looking for solutions- do you have any ideas?

"I'm always thinking of the undergraduates"

- Margaret Walker, your USG president

mwalker@tulane.edu

Twitter, this is Blogger. Come in, Twitter.

2009-03-24T19:56:00.003-05:00

To better accommodate both our blog and Twitter followers I am attempting to sync the two. If I arranged everything correctly via Twitterfeed.com, a link to our blog posts should appear in our USG twitterfeed at twitter.com/usgtulane.

I have already set up the humble blog to show updates of our Twitter posts along the right column.

One small step for USG, one giant leap for Tulane,

Eric
Your VP for Public Affairs

Tulane Tech. Services

2009-03-17T11:12:00.004-05:00

VP for Student Life (VPSL) Ross Kelley, VPSL-elect Lauren Aronson, and I met with Tulane's new Chief Information Officer Charlie McMahon and Ann Kovalchick this morning. We discussed the state of technology on Tulane's campus and considered a structure for increasing communication between their office and the student body. Next year, we hope to create a Tech Services Student Advisory Committee to offer the office student input. The group will also assist with research and business proposals for the office.

Issues discussed at the meeting included:
-Wireless on campus
-Negotiating software deals
-Using technology to improve safety
-Developing packages for phone, internet, and television deals

Have a great day,

Eric, your VP for Public Affairs

Health Center Issues

2009-03-14T15:08:00.003-05:00

Hey all,

I just got out of a meeting with a GAPSA representative about Health Center issues. GAPSA is comparing the Tulane student health insurance policy with that of some other peer institutions. This primarily affects graduate and professional students, but many undergraduates have complained about a lack of services and poor hours at the Tulane Health Center. As such, the USG University Affairs Committee will be looking at the health center services of the same peer institutions in comparison with Tulane's. We will compile our information with the GAPSA insurance information to create a comprehensive proposal and list of priorities for Tulane's health center.

If you have any ideas or opinions on services at the health center, please email gripes@tulane.edu.

Regards,

Ross Kelley
Vice President for Student Life

Building the Economy-USG Finance

2009-02-27T11:16:00.003-06:00

Hello from USG Finance Committee!

The budget deadline was last Monday at 5PM. Thank you to all student organizations for submitting their budgets on time. There are currently boxes and boxes of budgets in the USG office. I will be screening them for missing components. Organizations should begin to receive emails about their budgets if they have incomplete requests.

The budget reviewing process will most likely start in the second week of March. It will be a month long intensive period. Organizations contacts should expect communications via email in the coming month for meeting with the USG Finance Committee.

On another note, organization mailboxes in LBC are currently unavailable. Organizations will not be receiving a copy of their reallocation request until the mailboxes are available again.

Sincerely,

Jing Jia Zang
Vice President for Finance
Undergraduate Student Government
usgvpf@tulane.edu

Website

2009-02-25T14:12:00.001-06:00

In case you missed the email I sent to all undergrads regarding the results of last week's election, I've updated the homepage of the USG website www.tulane.edu/~usg with the results. Make sure to check them out!

Also, everyone with USG hopes that you had a safe and fun Mardi Gras. As we all get back into the swing of things, please let us know if we can be of help around campus.

-Eric, VP for Public Affairs

The election are coming, the elections are coming

2009-02-17T12:01:00.009-06:00

This Wednesday and Thursday (until 5 pm) you the undergraduate students of Tulane U. will have the honor and the duty to vote for you 2009-10 e-board and on a restructuring proposal.

More information on both can be found at www.tulane.edu/~usg

Here's the skinny of the restructuring proposal. The proposal suggestion that we get rid of at-large senators (elected by all undergraduates) and add representatives from the residence halls and an off-campus association. The proposal would also tweak the numbers of seats given for senators representing the schools.

The Current Structure:

And the proposed structure:

Book Store Focus Group

2009-02-09T22:25:00.003-06:00

Today VP for Student Life Ross Kelley, several Senators, another student, and I participated in a focus group regarding the book store. The discussion was managed by a marketing representative and two Barnes & Noble employees, the Vice-President for Stores and the New Orleans Regional Manager, observed.

All of the students advocated for lower book costs and higher buy back rates. We also discussed what supplies were missing from the bookstore and the store's quality of service (everyone praised it). After the event, the VP for Stores told us that B&N contributed to the construction the bookstore part of the LBC. They also return a percentage of the proceeds to the university. We were all happy to hear this, but we will keep fighting for lower prices in every way we can.

-Eric, VP for Public Affairs

Exec. Board info. sessions

2009-02-08T22:27:00.000-06:00

Your Undergraduate Student Government is pleased to announce our upcoming Executive Board election. This election to be held February 18th and 19th. The election will be for all members of the Undergraduate Executive Board, including President, Executive Vice-President, VP for Finance, VP for Student Life, VP for Student Organizations, and VP for Public Affairs.

If you are interested in learning more about these positions, please attend an information session. They will be held in the Student Organizations Center (Garden Level of the LBC) on Monday and Tuesday, February 9th and 10th, from noon until 5 pm.

These positions hold great opportunity for students interested in positively influence our university and Tulane student life. USG experience is NOT required for any of the positions, and we welcome and encourage all interested students to at least attend an information session. If you want to make change in our community, here's a chance!

-Eric,
VP for Public Affairs

Tulane To-Do in the Press

2009-02-03T19:49:00.000-06:00

USG will be hosting a student leader meeting called Tulane To-Do on February 15 from 11am-3pm.

To read more about the event:

This article describes the event: http://snipurl.com/b7in5
This article (about halfway through) also explains the events purpose clearly:
http://snipurl.com/b7isq