Student organizations at Saint Louis University do not typically get the kick start that life.slu.edu received at its outset four months ago. The University has already given this site more than $20,000 this year, mostly to cover salaries and start-up costs. Life.slu.edu is also waiting to be chartered by the Student Government Association.
These atypical features are part of a project that faces many expectations but, thus far, has yet to accumulate overwhelming student support. When asked about the site’s progress in the past few months, Assistant Vice President for Student Development Phil Lyons said, “I think they’re doing fine. I may be a little impatient, but I think the site is moving forward every week.”
Lyons said he looks forward to seeing more events on the site’s calendar, which he hopes will eventually become the touchstone for all organizations on campus looking to plan events.
The creators of life.slu.edu include a staff of four paid students who aim to cultivate a Web site designed to build community through message boards, student-oriented content and other unique features. ITS also helped with the development and funding for the project.
Oklahoma University gave SLU the software that life.slu.edu is built on.
So far, however, the content of the SLU site is nowhere near its buzzing sister site at OU.
The current site contains all of the framework for the envisioned final product, which is slated to include features like a student-to-student book swap and a more complete local guide with useful phone numbers and hours.
The site was used during Homecoming Week for Homecoming court voting. Brian Rodgers, life.slu.edu’s technical director, said that the voting brought a lot of traffic. Rodgers also said that he plans to have a revamped calendar up by the end of the week.
The staff at life.slu.edu is currently working on contacting the leaders of student organizations to give them access to the calendar. Ideally, according to Lyons, the calendar would be able to list both public and private events for all on-campus organizations. This would make scheduling conflicts with major events less likely.
Logging onto the site shows that all the sections are in place, but are not brimming with content.The message boards have a total of little more than 100 responses, and the listings were last updated in mid-September. More fully developed parts of the site include the SLU links, which include guides to other helpful University information.
Tom Hanley, director for ITS, said that “we need to give students the support to develop ways for making the site an integral part of their community.”
He emphasized that the site would not grow overnight but that its benefits to the commuter and non-traditional students would be worth the wait. He said, “The students have to be able to see the potential in it.”
