Recent difficulties students and faculty have found with communication throughout the University have prompted a few students to actively work to improve inter-campus relations.
One of these students is senior Kailea Saplan. Saplan works directly with the Board of Trustees and Student Senate as the Undergraduate Representative on the Board of Trustees and one of her main focuses is improving communication.
Although many students are not aware of the position Saplan said ths position allows students to have a relay between themselves and the board of trustees and permits the Undergraduate Representative a peek into what the administration is focusing on. From there, she is able to bring those focuses out and communicate them to students.
One of the main topics for discussion that Saplan is focusing on is in regards to Imagine 2020, which laid out what the university wanted to see come to fruition
by 2020. In Imagine 2020, there is discussion of re- distributing funds to throughout the departments.
Recently the focus and the funding has been toward the pre-medicine schools and the graduate programs.
Saplan and senior Student Senate President Olin Blackmore have been working closely with President Lesley Hallick to ensure that the College of Arts and Sciences isn’t forgotten.
“It is my biggest concern for the Arts departments, especially the smaller departments that might get swept under the rug,” said Saplan. “My biggest concern last year was to firstly make sure that President Hallick wouldn’t forget about us, so Olin and I got her to come to school events and talk to the students.”
Another issue that Saplan and Blackmore have been working on is with the no-smoking policy that will go into effect in May.
Originally this policy was to go into effect during the previous school year, but Saplan brought to Hallick’s attention that the students were not happy with the decision and Hallick agreed to give students
more time to adjust to the change.
It was because of the student’s reactions and
vocalizations that Saplan and Student Senate were able to push everything back a year.
Undergraduate Representative is a unique position that allows Saplan to be the go-between for the student body and the administration. If students want changes to be made Saplan is the person to make requests to.
Saplan has taken on her role as undergraduate representative with gusto and she said most of the work that she does outside of Student Senate or the Board of Trustees, she does just because she thinks the work needs to happen.
She also mentioned that Hallick would also like students to come directly to her with issues that they may have.
Both Saplan and Hallick can be reached via email at sapl0849@pacificu.edu and hall8026@pacificu.edu, respectively.
Students are also encouraged to set up appointments to speak with Hallick by contacting her executive assistant Sue Weinbender.
Leave a Reply