President Davies, other speakers convene with SGA about upcoming semester
Nicholas Long, VP of Financial and Administrative Services, talks alongside CMU President Davies about the upcoming semester over Webex on Nov. 16, 2020.
Central Michigan University President Bob Davies and others convened with the student body about the past semester and what to expect in the spring semester during a Student Government Association meeting on Nov. 16, 2020.
The final general board meeting of the semester featured three guest speakers: President Davies, Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services Nicholas Long and Athletic Department Liaison Brianna Hart. Davies talked about the semester and what's coming in the spring. Hart spoke about upcoming changes made after Athletic Director Amy Folan asked the student body what they thought the department could do more to engage students.
President Davies
Davies said this year was his "most challenging year" in higher education.
The final general board meeting of the semester featured three guest speakers. Most notable were Davies and Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services Nicholas Long. Long talked about his role and experience, while Davies talked about the semester and what's coming in the spring. Alongside them was Brianna Hart, the Athletic Department Liaison, who spoke about upcoming changes made after the Athletic Director Amy Folan asked the student body what they thought the department could do more to engage students.
"We learned (in 2020) that higher education can actually move fast, higher education can be nimble, (it) can be flexible," Davies said.
The president said the university still plans to open on Jan. 11, and will communicate quickly if the situation changed.
"We will watch things closely," Davies said. "We'll work with the governor's offices and other offices to determine what happens."
When questions opened to the student body, student representative Aubre Thomas said she knew people who participated in the COVID-19 surveillance testing program that did not receive their results up to two weeks after testing, even if they tested positive.
Those were due to a "significant backlog" of tests being sent to laboratories around Michigan like Lansing, Davies said. CMU is working with the company to get test results back faster to participants, but the entire state is in a "testing deficient situation," he said.
Brianna Hart
Hart updated SGA on how the Athletics Department is addressing the student body's tips on how to connect with students. She said Athletics will start encouraging student-athletes to promote events on their social media accounts, increase coverage of other sports besides football on the department's social media accounts and promote events earlier and more often.
Athletics is planning an event called "what it means to be a student-athlete," Hart said. It would put different student leaders, such as SGA President Katie Prebelich, in a student athlete's shoes for a day, while the student-athlete would perform the SGA President's job for a day, she said.
Other business
Long, the newly appointed vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, introduced himself to SGA and explained his role. Next semester, he said he wants "to revisit the budget model" and be more efficient and effective in allocating money within the budget. He also wants to open up more dining options at the Bovee University Center, he said.
The SGA Director of Equity and Inclusion is an open position for the spring semester, as well as the Sustainability Committee chair. The committee chair is open only to SGA senators or representatives. Emergency Senate elections will take place at the start of the next semester. The first SGA meeting for the spring semester will take place Jan. 11.
