The Student Government Association begins again this week under the presidency of Michael Harriss, and as with any new administration, we wait expectantly to see how they will deliver on old promises, and which new issues they will choose to uptake.

There were several promises made by the Harriss administration that we at The University News strongly believe should be lived up to. It is imperative that the individual senators to send e-mails to their constituency, updating them on the various proposals and passed legislation. Having written about this issue before, it might seem as if we are beating a dead horse, but we feel it is important enough to include again in our list of important promises for the coming year.

There also needs to be more reliable and concise debate when it comes to Chartered Student Organization funding. In past SGA meetings, money is either handed out blindly to CSOs, or an issue is unnecessarily debated for hours. There must be a happy medium between the two extremes that involves senators listening to each other and asking vital questions without too much repetition and heady bureaucracy.

There are several other issues that haven’t made it onto the SGA agenda, but that we at The University News strongly wish would be taken up. Firstly, Saint Louis University is in dire need of on-campus eateries have extended hours between Friday and Sunday. Currently, the culinary landscape of SLU is a veritable desert after 4 p.m. on Friday, and only reawakens with the morning rush of breakfasters on Monday morning. With the sole exception of Subway, there is little in the way of dining options if one prefers the cozy confines of the campus, making it far more likely for students to live off vending machines and Coke than indulge in healthier fare.

The lack of restaurants with weekend hours is also a problem for one looking to escape the dorms to study: many students use places like Au Bon Pain and the library café as refuges from scrambling roommates and hectic residential life. It is not necessary for campus eateries to even be open around the clock: we would simply like to see expanded hours during the weekends. Also, the increased business during these hours would no doubt benefit SLU financially.

Following along the line of student dining, we also believe that SGA should work to make meal plans optional. This is an especially important issue for commuting students, who might only drive in for a few classes before returning home, but nevertheless are forced to purchase 200 dollars in flex points.
In most cases, this is absolutely unnecessary, and the money is spent superfluously out of obligation. The ability to not have a meal plan should be a right for all students, as it is far cheaper to grocery shop and find restaurants off campus than to spend six dollars on a sandwich from ABP.

We hope SGA will take these suggestions to heart and work hard this year to deliver on past proposals.