• 2003-2004 Club and Organization Directory
The Behrend Beacon
Friday, September 12, 2003 12 Pages
Vol. LI 4'4 11':4 No. 1
SGA tackles restructuri
By Lauren Packer
editor-in-chief
Clubs and organizations funded by
Student Government Association have
been restructured to ensure better
representation, a problem that has
previously plagued SGA.
The 2(X)3-2(X)4 Club and Organization
Directory lists seven grouping of clubs:
Academic, Art, Interfraternity/
Panhellenic, Multi-Cultural, Recreation,
Service and Honors, and Student Life.
Along the lines of these groupings eight
councils were formed for the 86 total
clubs and organizations to be recognized
by SGA.
The reason for the new structure stems
from a committee started in the spring
of 2003, under then SGA President
Brandi Hovis. This committee was
responsible for drawing up the structure
and rewriting the constitution
Current SGA President Scott Soltis
was a member of the initial committee
and is now charged with implementing
the new structure.
"The old system was antiquated and
needed a change," Soltis said.
Under the old system, clubs were not
being fairly represented, if represented
at all. Of the 86 clubs, the only ones
with direct representation and a vote at
SGA meetings were the Multi-Cultural
Council, Lion Entertainment Board,
Joint Residence Council, Commuter
Council, Interfraternity Council, and
Panhellenic Council. Of these six clubs,
only three (IFC, PHC, MCC) represented
multiple clubs. The SGA Senators were
No vacancy
Unprecedented housing crunch felt at Behrend
By Justin Curry
news editor
On-campus residents had quite the
surprise awaiting them this year upon
their return to school. Most were
expecting to walk in their dorm rooms
and greet their new roommates, and
some were thoroughly shocked to find
that they were tripled or quadrupled up,
living with double the number of people
that they had expected to. A select few
were even more surprised to find
themselves living in supplemental
housing, makeshift housing that was
erected in study lounges and residence
hall basements across campus. Not since
the 1991 school year has Behrend seen
such a shortage in housing, and steps are
being taken to prevent another situation
like this from happening again.
According to Ken Miller, Director of
Student Affairs, the normal cancellation
rate of housing contracts for Behrend is
22.5 percent by the beginning of an
academic year. During the summer, the
housing and student affairs staff noticed
an anomaly taking place. Instead of
numbers reaching the 22percent mark,
they were only reaching about I Bpercent.
In a last-ditch effort to stop a housing
shortage, no more contracts were offered
after the decrease in cancellations was
noticed. It obviously didn't work.
Housing and Food Services
intentionally overbooks housing
contracts, with the idea that after
cancellations, there will still be room for
a few late-filing students.
"We didn't offer any more contracts
this year than we did last year, it was just
that students weren't canceling like they
normally do," Miller told the Beacon.
"And when it comes to housing, there
isn't any room for a margin of error."
Normally, H&FS can count on anywhere
from fifteen to twenty cancellations on
opening weekend, this year a total of
eight occurred
•
NEWS 1-3
DIRECTORY 4-5
NATIONAL NEWS 6
responsible for representing the
remaining 65 clubs. This sheer number
of clubs that fell into the Senator's laps
helped lead to the unfair representation.
"Some senators did a great job
representing their clubs and
Inside
EDITORIAL 7
A&E 8
FEATURES 9
organizations. Others did not view it as
a priority," Soltis said.
"It's only fair that if one group of clubs
had direct representation, then another
group should as well. What's fair for
one person should be fair for another."
CALENDAR 10
SPORTS 11-12
Soltis and Vice-President Tenn Sutter
have been working hard to bring equality
in club and organization representation.
Last semester, a representative from
all 86 clubs and organizations were
invited to meet with Soltis and Sutter (as
well as the rest of the committee) to
discuss and clarify any questions about
the new structure and format.
Unfortunately, less than half of the clubs
took advantage of this meeting. This
year, an SGA retreat weekend is planned
for September 12-13 to explain the new
process to all members of SGA. This
should help spread knowledge of the new
structure.
"It's a new process, so a lot of work
has to be done by everyone to get it up
and running smoothly," Soltis said.
Sutter agrees.
"There's still some confusion, but it
will be clarified the weekend of the
retreat. Every SCA member will know
so much about these councils that they
will feel like they created them," she
said. The new system requires a great
deal of cooperation from both the clubs
and organizations as well as the Senators
and SGA.
Now, Senators are assigned to act as
liaisons to each of the five new councils.
The Senators no longer directly represent
a set of clubs and organizations. The
Senators are there to ensure that the
concerns of all students are represented,
not just those in clubs.
The councils have weekly meetings in
which all clubs listed under that council
discuss concerns. The councils are set
up with an executive board, consisting
Contact Us
NEWSROOM: 898-6488 E-MAIL: Offices are located
FAX: 898-6019 behrcolls@aol.com downstairs in the
Reed Union Building
IRttv -
of a president, vice-president, secretary
and a council representative. The
information from these meetings then
makes its way to the SGA meeting via
the council representative. The primary
responsibility of the council
representative is to attend SGA meetings.
Each of the eight council representatives
is allowed one vote.
Sutter points out that the new system
has many advantages over the old
system
"Bringing together these clubs helps
to share information with SGA, - Sutter
said.
"It makes the smaller clubs feel more
in tune with what's going on. It also
helps for programming. By grouping
these clubs and organizations together in
similar categories, we're hoping to see
them come together and function as a
larger unit.-
One of the issues that face Behrend
students is the overwhelming number of
programs with sparse attendance.
While quantity is sometimes a good
thing, Sutter is hoping for more quality
as well.
"We want to see quality programs, not
just quantity. Larger, more group
oriented programs allow for more
people, both club members and non-club
members, to attend," said Sutter.
"I've said all along, this is going to
take hard work, patience and
understanding from everyone. SGA will
do everything in our power to get people
informed," he said.
Yet another difference that took place
this year due to the overbooking in
housing was the fact that son►e students
were roomed with resident assistants on
their floors. As of this week, all of the
students rooming with male RAs had
been moved to other rooms, but the
female RA situation was still in limbo.
"It's uncertain as to whether or not this
problem will be fixed by the end of the
semester. We are in the plans of working
to compensate the RAs who were given
roommates," stated Miller. A perk
generally granted to resident assistants
is their own room, and this year it wasn't
able to happen for all of them.
When asked if he thought the situation
this year with resident assistants would
affect recruiting RAs for next year,
Miller said "We don't make a habit of
doing this from year to year, and we
definitely don't want to start setting this
precedent. I sincerely hope that
recruitment doesn't drop for next year
as a result of the housing situation."
Some much-needed relief is on the
way for next year. Senat Hall, the new
residence hall located between Perry
Hall and Reed will be open for the
beginning of the 2004-05 school year.
This hall will house 149 students, as well
as the new ID+ and Housing and Food
Services offices. The department of
student affairs hopes that with one
hundred and forty nine new beds opening
on campus, housing will become more
marketable to students. Also in the
works are plans for a new residence hall
to be located in upper campus near Almy
and Ohio Halls. Tripp Hall is still in the
beginning phases, with no definite start
date set yet.
"We definitely won't be overbooking
next year like we did this year. This is
not something we want happening on a
yearly basis," ended Miller.