By Radwan Farraj
An Undergraduate Student Government town hall was hosted on Tuesday, Nov. 29 for students to talk with USG members about how student government funds could be spent and used to address student concerns. The event was held in the Student Center’s Bedford Room and ran for two hours.
Town hall events are typically held once per semester and during the pandemic, they were held either on Zoom or the social media platform Discord. Although students outside of student government did not attend, USG senators spoke of concerns with campus elevators, the cleanliness of the Boylan cafeteria, ID scanners at campus entrances for Cleared4 passes, and the possibility for putting monitors at each campus entrance to inform students of train and bus times.
Despite being held during common hours, the town hall’s lack of student turnout has been a persistent challenge for student government since before the pandemic.
“When I held it [town hall] on Zoom one time, nobody showed up. But it’s not the only time that they [students] can voice their opinion,” said Flavia Shyti, USG’s press director. “I feel that it’s our responsibility to not make the town hall the only time our ears are open.”
Currently, USG hosts several group chats for students across social media services including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Discord. These groups are for general student use and serve to provide announcements directly from USG.
“I think for the most part this semester we’ve done a really good job at getting USG out there and showing people what we are and what we can do for them through our events and our outreach on emails and group chats,” said Carrie Ebbin, USG’s vice president. “I think that there’s always room to get the word out there more, you know, we are a resource to you.”
Weekly senate and cabinet meetings have special time set aside, known as “open table,” for students to talk with USG members in 311 Student Center. USG’s last event of this semester will be a breakfast event held on Reading Day, Dec. 14.