Andrew Clifton, Saint Louis University’s newly inducted Student Government Association president, launched a new interactive website on Thursday, Sept. 13, called SLU Connection. The site is intended to bring together students and administration in ways not yet seen at SLU. SGA held a kick-off event in the quad from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the launch day.
SLU Connection is an interactive site that will include world and campus news, interactive tools such as a student activities calendar, a daily poll, a blog, an entertainment page with information about SLU TV, KSLU and SAB activities, and much more. It will eventually become the homepage for all campus computers and have links to many student-used sites, such as Facebook. Although it will be accessible to anyone, only students and faculty at SLU will be able to contribute to it.
The blog, for example, will “consist of topics posted by the IT committee, SGA and other website administrators,” said junior Daniel Rooney, IT committee member and representative of Parks College.
Clifton wanted this site primarily because he said that it provides better “communication between SLU administration and its students, as well as more online resources.” He said that he has sensed a fear of misinformation among students and hopes that this site will enable SLU to either refute or confirm rumors and questions posted on the site.
“A typical rumor is that students’ tuition is so high because it’s being used to build the new stadium . this is not the case, and this is just one of the many questions that could be raised on the blog and then explained by the administration so that people will have clarification,” Clifton said.
SLU Connection was developed by students, but built by both students and faculty. It is a collaborative effort among the departments of Student Development, Mission and Ministry, marketing and communication and SGA.
Mark Rimar, the associate director of the marcom-marketing and web services department at SLU, built the site. Its look was created by Maria Rozier, the web project coordinator of the student development and business administration department. Emily Farinacci, a senior and former SGA senator, is in charge of the site and involved in its intensive upkeep.
The care of the site falls under the IT committee, and they will continue running it in the years to come.
“It has the potential to reach a lot of students,” said Rooney. “Never before has there been a center for unlimited discussion time between the students and administration.”
His role, along with the rest of the IT committee, is primarily upkeep of the site and patrolling of the blog. Rooney predicts that it will be a forum for “campus discussion about diversity and policy at the University, state, national and international level.”
Clifton wants to make it clear that this is “not an SGA project, but for the whole University . it is a new way to talk that has never been done at SLU before.”
It is described as a one-stop-shop by both Rimar and Rozier.
“Students are the life of the campus, and this is a tool useful to both prospective and current students,” said Rimar.
Rozier said that students are advised to check the site frequently once it is up because it is “definitely evolving and is meant to grow with the students.”
