by Nick Luchko
Staff writer
After recently reading Cabrini College’s “Twenty Things We’re Proud Of” ad, I feel it is my duty as outgoing President of the SGA to give twenty things that can be improved.
1. Add more lights and callboxes. SGA has got the ball rolling with this one. If you haven’t noticed, there are more lights near the apartments and the tennis courts. We just need more callboxes near residential boulevard and lights where there is heavy student traffic.
2. Put more than two printers in the computer lab. I don’t know about you but when I do the math, 2000 students and two printers equal a lot of problems. When exam time comes around and everyone is using the lab, the toner will get low and the paper will look bad. Trust me, it happens.
3. Open the Food Court past 9pm. I can’t tell you how much money I have spent on Campus Corner in my four years at Cabrini. If the Food Court were open until 11p.m. or midnight, people would come up. Start with one night and see how it goes. There is no harm done with trying.
4. More service trips. Okay, so we have Appalachia and Mexico, but after that there is nothing. Why is that so when St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the patron of immigrants? Rather than use the money for things that are meaningless to students, like a pond or fountain, use that money to supply students with the funds needed to not only make trips that are available now but those in the future.
5. Put a schedule for the Dixon Center outside for students. When I have had a rough day and I need to relieve some stress, I decide to go to the Dixon Center. But when I get there either a team is practicing or I am told I have to leave because some team from the area is practicing. Why doesn’t the school put a big calendar out in the lobby so that student will know ahead of time what is going on?
6. Put Financial Aid and the Business Office next to each other. These two offices should be working together, right? Why are they not in the same building at least so that way they can communicate better and be more accessible for all parties involved.
7. A stable Residence Hall policy and housing selection. This seems to be happening this year but it won’t be the same next year. In four years at this college, I have seen four resident life directors and four different policies. Please, for the future students of this college, create a policy and stick with it.
8. Open the Library past 10:30. I can tell you that SGA tried this year to get the library open later. I don’t know why it did not happen. Students would agree that most of the time they study past 10:30 and when the place of study closes at that time, you’re not going to learn much.
9. Parking. I was always under the impression that freshmen were not allowed to have cars on campus. However, I know for a fact that a majority of them do and this is not cool since the rest of us have to pay. If anyone is interested, look at the Widener Lot at 11p.m. Monday through Thursday and you tell me whether or not there are freshmen cars on campus.
10. Off-campus housing for students through Cabrini. I know. Apartments don’t want to rent to college students, however, if the college made a deal saying that, for example, the students living there were senior education majors, I think that the apartment complex would reconsider. Especially if Residence Life is saying that they want a one-year committment, those students who cannot do this can live in an apartment off campus and still get the college experience.
11. More than one counselor. The Counseling Center is such an issue that I am tired of talking about it. How can you have one counselor at a college? Cabrini really should have asked students how they felt about Jefferson taking over this year and compared it to past counselors. It would be interesting to see the comments.
12. Keep graduation on the lawn. Tradition.
Even plans for the future call the back of the mansion “Graduation Greens.” I hope that it is there, no matter the cost to the college.
13. Phones in the Apartments. So I guess the plans for the CAC back in the day didn’t include phones in the hallways. I think that putting three public phones in the hallways would not only help students but also RA’s and Public Safety.
14. Give out maps. This is something that should really be done. Every year, give the students maps of the campus and where they can find certain people and offices. This year, there were more students that came to Student Activities looking for Residence Life and stuff like that. Since there was no notification of the move to students, it was an inconvenience. Also there should be a list of where you can find the entire faculty.
15. Fix the website. Why is our website never updated. As of today, the last time it was updated was March 4. That is good. Why doesn’t the school have students who are in the IST department help update the page weekly with special features throughout the school?
16. Watch St. Joe’s fans. This goes out to the students. If you ever want to cheer on your sports teams, look at these fans. It’s sad that there is no school spirit and no interest in going nuts at the games. At the NCAA game there was a small group that did this, but really everyone should have been up for the game. When I sat in the crowd, I heard more people talk about what kind of beer they were going to drink that night instead of the actual game. I hope in the future this will change.
17. Keep Grace Hall a dorm. I know that this is not going to happen but it should. If Grace Hall was a dorm many residence hall problems would go away. Just think about it. Space solution.
18. Begin to look at baseball for the future. Now that we have a softball field, I think that it is time for baseball to have a future at Cabrini. Even if it is a club for a few years, I know that there are plenty of people who want to see it happen. It’s not as if we’re testing a sport no one has ever seen before.
19. Let students be a part of the decision making. Students are the most important thing to this college. They make the college what it is. They should have the right and the privilege to be part of the decision making in the way this college is run. If the college feels the school is a business then shouldn’t they listen and consider what their customers want?
20. Finally, Administration, don’t lose contact with the students. I think that this has been deteriorating for the last couple of years. Due to the amount of change and the lack of consistency, students are used to one thing and then the next year it changes again. Please, for the future, consider the students and don’t lose them. Many students have a lack of faith in the college already and how it is run. I think it is time for the college to get the students back so that both sides can work together and make the experience memorable.
