To all those new members of the Xavier community, let us start by saying welcome to campus!
We’d like to begin this fall’s State of the Campus address with a quick recap from where we left off last spring and how we plan to move forward into the new school year. Our last major project of the 2017-18 school year was the “We Will Not Be Next” walkout in memory of those who have lost their lives in school shootings since Columbine 19 years ago. Though our campus is safe under the protection of Xavier Police, it is still critical that our entire campus is trained to Run, Hide, Fight. We have been working, and will continue to work, with XU Police Chief Dan Hect to find the best way to reach all students who are interested in learning how to defend themselves.
On that note, we are committed to continue the dialogue surrounding gun violence in our nation and how it affects different groups on our campus. We will be working with Taj Smith and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion as well as other departments around campus to have courageous conversations that will act as a forum for all members of our community to speak out about how gun violence impacts our nation.
There is currently an ongoing movement among Jesuit Student Governments to create a student branch of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. We as executives have been working this summer to create a constitution and a committee under which this organization will be managed.
The purpose of this branch is to improve the consistency and clarity of communication between student leaders. This process has been motivated by the fact that each of our universities are having the same issues surrounding communication, and we hope to collaborate and address some of these larger issues together.
On campus, developments are ongoing for Gallagher Student Center (GSC) dining options. As many of you may well know, the three restaurants that previously occupied GSC have been closed and will be replaced by new establishments before the end of the semester. With construction ongoing, ConneX has taken care to ensure that our campus has viable food options so students are able to access a meal if they are unable to eat in the cafeteria.
CLC will host a student run restaurant that will be open at the start of the semester. In addition to this, the coffee shops will be serving fresh grab-and-go foods, and there will be a pop-up deli in the Fenwick atrium during lunch hours. And finally, for this semester only, all off-campus dining that previously accepted X-Cash will now be accepting dining dollars from all Xavier students with their ALLCards.
SGA has many initiatives in the works as well for the upcoming year. Senators have been working on finding a way to reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles through the use of reusable water bottles. Other projects include the distribution of consent magnets to all on-campus students for the start of the year to ensure that all students fully understand what consent is and how to properly obtain it. There will also be a renters fair to aid students who are looking to move off campus and want help in finding good landlords that will treat you fairly.
There is quite a lot more, so we encourage anyone who is interested in what we are doing to come to our Senate meetings on Monday from 3-5 p.m. in the Office of Student Involvement. There is also a suggestion box outside of our office on the second floor of Gallagher that is open to all public comments.
We look forward to getting to know the new faces around campus and catching up with the ones we know well.
On behalf of the SGA Executives, here’s to a great new year.
Johnny Srsich, Brianna Boyce and Cole Stautberg are the Executives of the Student Government Association.