A proposal for allowing representatives the right to vote during Board of Trustees meetings is close to being finalized, Temple Student Government Parliamentarian Alex Barbosa announced last Monday.
Student representatives can currently attend Board of Trustees meetings, but are not permitted to vote.
Gaining student suffrage has been a long-term objective for TSG, Barbosa said. Along with President Oscar Chow and other members of the executive committee, Barbosa has discussed the topic several times since the beginning of the semester.
Barbosa said the finished proposal – which he hopes to present to the general assembly by the end of the semester – will consist of an “analysis of the pros and cons of why we should have a right to vote” and contain “extensive amounts of research” regarding the state laws which determine if students are granted voting rights.
“That sort of sums up the entire student suffrage situation,” Barbosa said after explaining the intricate process. “It is not cut and dry.”
Barbosa also said he had discussed ideas for enhancing TSG representation with student government leaders from across the country. He said a tentative proposal outlining possible incentives and potential goals is currently in progress.
Student Trustee Richard Drach said he met with the Board of Trustees Facilities Committee to discuss the design and construction of the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs. Dratch showed a blueprint of the OMCA, which will be built in the basement of Mitten Hall.
University Resources Chair Ieshia Nelson said her committee has been asked to help evaluate TUPortal2, the upgrade slated to replace the 2-year-old TUPortal software next semester.
“We will be critiquing it as a committee,” Nelson said. “We want to give our suggestions on content, how it functions, design, the overall direction of the portal and how it will benefit students.”
President Oscar Chow thanked the volunteers who handed out food to commuters at a bus stop on Broad and Berks streets during the week-long SEPTA strike. Participants included TSG representatives, Senior Vice President Clarence Armbrister, Vice President of Operations William Bergman, Capt. Eileen Bradley of Campus Safety Services and several other administrators.
Chow said commuters seemed to appreciate the gesture.
“We were trying to make the best out of a terrible situation,” he said. “We just tried to do the best that we could to bring a smile to their faces.”
Postcard Drive
Diversity Affairs Co-Chairs Juan Galeano and Daniela Mendoza were among several volunteers who gathered in Conwell Hall last Monday night to write postcards to prospective Temple students.
Volunteers attempted to write personal messages to over 4,000 prospective undergraduates from around the country.
“When people take the time out to write something personal, it shows how much interest a university has in you,” Galeano said.
The postcard drive continued the Office of Admissions and TSG’s developing relationship. Previous collaborations between the two organizations resulted in a phone-a-thon and an open chat room session, with both events being used for recruitment.
Assistant Director of Multicultural Recruitment LaVonne Clark planned the drive and said she was pleased with the number of participants. She also said recruitment tactics of this nature are designed to appeal to everyone.
“We recruit all students,” Clark said, “but sometimes it takes a little extra effort to recruit minority students for a number of reasons.”
“Everybody is competing for the same students. Everybody wants the most talented students – with higher grade point averages and higher SAT scores.” she said. “So it is important to do this just to let them know that … we want students of color here and we want to maintain our status as the second most diverse university in the country.”
Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.
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