On Oct. 28, the Department of Housing and Residence life held a Town Hall meeting to address plans and concerns for the upcoming year.
Sponsored by the Residence Hall Association and Student Government Association, the meeting was broken down into round table discussions. There were six tables, each dedicated to a specific Housing and Res. Life topic, including Assignments, Facilities, Diversity and Learning Communities. The idea was that, in order to get a specific answer, students could ask questions pertaining to the topic at each table.
Before breaking into groups, the director of Housing and Res. Life, Alvin Sturdivant, gave a brief overview of the department’s goals for the upcoming year.
“Nothing we do at Housing and Res. Life is a secret,” Sturdivant said.
He presented a list of 16 goals that Housing and Res. Life hopes to achieve. This included working so students get the most out of living on campus and developing an assessment plan for feedback on the work Housing and Res. Life does.
Sturdivant also mentioned plans to extend learning communities to sophomore students, to enhance the quality of learning communities already in place and to increase efforts to go green.
Finally, there are plans for more renovations and maintenance work to residence buildings on campus, including plans to upgrade Reinert Hall over the summer.
After Sturdivant’s opening presentation, participants were given 45 minutes to visit three round tables of their choice. The Assignment table included the possibility of a housing lottery system, and leasing apartments in private complexes. In particular, the overflow issue seemed to be of concern.
“We don’t know if we’re going to continue using Manresa,” said Michelle Vinson, a program manager in Housing and Res. Life.
Another pressing question was the issue of overflow and housing scholarships. If a student has a housing scholarship going toward on-campus housing and is unable to live on campus, where does that scholarship money go?
“We can’t really speak [about] that at this time,” Vinson said. “But it is certainly being looked at.”
The Energy Conservation group said that they are working with recycling facilities to find out where SLU recyclables actually end up.
The Facilities table addressed specific concerns of the Resident Advisors in attendance, such as broken furniture, problems with maintenance and other issues occurring in the residence halls. The number in attendance was about 65, and at least half of those who attended were RAs.
“I would have liked to see more students take advantage of the opportunity to hear from Res. Life,” said Richard Peralta, the residence hall coordinator of Marguerite Hall and Pruellage Hall (formerly known as Notre Dame). “But the event was pretty good.”