The student government, alongside numerous Capital University faculty and administrators, came together for the 2015 Building Day.
“Building Day is a time where student government representatives, faculty, and administrators come together and discuss how we can enhance the undergraduate experience,” Nick Reade, speaker of the senate, said.
Building Day is scheduled by the student government annually as they address possibilities and prospective ideas in the areas of student life, academic affairs, and governance.
This year’s meeting saw a solid turnout of 16 faculty members and 13 school administrators in addition to members of student government.
“Building Day this year was great opportunity to get [faculty and administration] and students in the same room to talk about ways we can improve experiences for our student body,” Senior Jackie Niese, president of the student government, said.
The format of Building Day was adjusted this year so as to be more productive.
“In years past, a panel would be set up to field questions,” Reade said. “This year we split everyone into three work groups so [everyone] could add more to the conversation.”
The purpose of Building Day is to both address issues and provide understanding for students.
“Not only do we come up with solutions for issues, but it’s educational for us to understand why an issue exists,” Reade said.
We have provided some highlights of some prospective ideas student government and Capital will be researching before possibly addressing.
Student Life
- Capital Grounds is now open until 10 p.m. on a trial basis. If sales on the trial basis can sustain reasonably maintaining the hours, then it will make sense to keep the late hours.
- Capital is in the works of making a deal with the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) that would enable students to ride COTA busses for free with a Capital student identification card. The estimated date of the deal is January 2016.
Academic Affairs
- The Convergent Media Center could open possibilities for new majors that would incorporate pre-existing majors with the state of the art media and technological fields.
- The Higher Education Council of Columbus (HECC) program should be advertised more than it is. Through the HECC program, students can take a class through another university if that class is unavailable at Capital that semester. Advertising this program more could be a solution for class scheduling conflicts.
- The General Education Committee may address current general education requirements in order to make changes in the next 5-10 years.
Governance
- To address student parking needs, Capital is making outlines for possible parking spots on Sheridan Avenue and College Avenue. Strategies are to be made regarding the O-lot parking to encourage more students to park there. Increased communication regarding parking can be made through the school website, posters, and on digital signs and tables in lobbies.
- Capital is going to research different residence hall issues spanning from cleanliness, bathrooms, and air conditioning, to students moving rooms efficiently. Students are always encouraged to contact facilities if any immediate issues need to be addressed.
- An additional topic to be discussed is the rules regarding smoking on campus and the possibility of becoming smoke-free.
All these ideas and possible solutions will be addressed after further research into each issue, in order to ensure proper action.
Building Day, with its new format, was useful in bringing about ideas to enrich the Capital experience.
“We had good conversations about areas around campus that we can look into in order to enhance and better the undergraduate experience,” Reade said.
Niese is looking forward to seeing the results of Building Day come into form.
“We talked about a lot of great things and are excited to put change into motion,” Niese said.
