SGA Community Affairs Meeting allows students to voice concerns
The first Community Affairs meeting was held on Jan. 12. It allowed students to ask HPU officials questions ranging from campus security to housing options. Photo by: Deja Ross
By Eric Wallace// Staff Writer
High Point University’s Student Government Association held its first Community Affairs meeting of the semester on Jan. 12. Questions of housing and class registration largely dominated the agenda. The panel gives students a chance to ask a series of university administrators’ questions or bring up concerns on any topic.
The panel featured Registrar Danny Brooks, Dr. Meredith Malburne-Wade from the newly created Office of Fellowships and Awards, Vice President Steve Potter from Facility Operations and Assistant Vice President for Student Life Paul Kittle.
To start, questions from students focused on housing with some raising concerns on how noise complaints are reported and possible changes to the housing tier system. It gave Potter an opportunity to discuss the campus’ LiveSafe app for reporting disturbances and ongoing efforts to improve dorm life such as fixing door locks and continuing to salt the surrounding parking lots during cold weather. Other questions related to housing concerned adequate safety, when quiet hours go into effect, and how the tier process was determined.
In response to a student who felt he was being wrongly targeted for noise complaints, Kittle explained how RA’s and Student Life will take action.
“When a noise complaint is filed, an RA or security [officer] may do a walk-by of that room to ensure the complaint is accurate,” Kittle said. “They’ll do this to determine if the noise is in any way a disturbance to others and if numerous reports on the same room are shown to be false, they may stop responding to those complaints.”
Many questions also focused on class schedules and concerns over completing the correct classes to graduate. Brooks was able to refer students to his office as well as address their concerns and walk them through exact steps to ensure they take the proper classes. He urges students worried about being able to graduate on time to file for an audit with his office. He also answered questions regarding class selection and how departments can change requirements. He encourages students worried about taking the correct classes to also reach out to their academic advisers for assistance.
Malburne-Wade had an opportunity to discuss the activities of her office. The Office of Fellowships and Awards seeks to provide students with as many scholarship opportunities as possible regardless of a student’s academic year. They provide students with the assistance they need for studying abroad, attending graduate school or possibly becoming a Rhodes Scholar. Malburne-Wade encourages students to visit the newly commissioned office in Cottrell 228 in the Entrepreneurship Center to discuss opportunities.
“While the scholarship may not kick in until later, we encourage students to visit as early on as possible in order to meet and discuss possible paths,” Malburne-Wade said.
Other miscellaneous topics that arose included possible changes to the university in the coming years such as the addition of new majors, a new way of taking final exams and potentially adding a dietician to campus to ensure nutrition and accurate calorie count in the food.
The next Community Affairs Board Meeting will be held on March 16 in Phillips 120.