Members of the Student Government Association sent a clear
message to Events Services on Wednesday: Students are not satisfied
with the office’s current policies.

During their weekly meeting, members of SGA passed a resolution
requesting that Events Services adopt policies regarding space
usage. The resolution, sponsored by International Student
Federation Senator Joel Samuels, hopes to restructure Event
Services’ policies regarding how student groups reserve rooms.

“[This resolution] hopes to assure that no group will be removed
from an event,” Samuels said. “It concerns equity and convenience;
students are given a fair chance and right to the Busch Student
Center over outsiders.”

Among other policy changes, the resolution requests that SGA
have priority over other student organizations for the senate
chambers and that student groups be given priority of room
reservation over non-University groups. The resolution, upon which
SGA postponed a vote until Samuels could make certain revisions to
clarify some topics, was almost unanimously approved by the
Senate.

SGA President Nick Sarcone was among those pleased with the
resolution.

“I think it’s important that we have a document that clearly
states what we expect from Events Services.” Sarcone said. “This
resolution presents solutions to some of the problems student
groups have been running into with Events Services.”

Sarcone announced during the meeting that the U.S. Secretary of
Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, will be visiting SLU’s campus next
Wednesday.

Ridge will be on hand to take part in a town hall meeting on the
topic of homeland security. Sarcone explained that there will be a
panel of influential leaders in both the St. Louis area and
national communities.

Sarcone also chose 20 members of SGA to represent the student
body at the meeting, at which students will be allowed to interact
with the panel. Staffers from USA Today, KMOX, C-SPAN and other
media organizations are expected to be present at the meeting.

Also at the senate meeting, senators also voiced concern for
grade inflation. Academic Vice President Deanna Durrett explained
how some SLU professors have unfair or lofty grading standards,
while others have low standards and are prone to giving easy “A’s.”
Durrett indicated that SGA is currently investigating methods of
combating academic inflation on SLU’s campus.

Sarcone acknowledged the importance of academic inflation.

“I think it’s an issue we need to look at,” Sarcone said. “What
it really entails is whether or not we give minuses (“A-,” for
example). I think in the long run it would be beneficial to
students’ overall GPA.”