Make your food opinions known
Dear Editor:
Looking in Stud Life lately, I’ve noticed that there have been several articles, both humorous and serious, dealing with food on campus. I’m glad all of these students are expressing their opinions – and to them and others, I’d like to offer a valuable resource.
As you may or may not know, the Student Union Senate has a Food Committee that serves as the voice of the students in dining matters. As the chair of that committee, I meet regularly with Bon App‚tit and Dining Services representatives, as well as a nutritionist. We’re all working very hard to help meet student’s needs and desires – but the best way to do that is with the most student input possible!
To that end, I urge all of you to drop me an e-mail at [email protected], and I’ll do my best to get the answers and solutions you deserve.
Kristen Chopra
Class of 2008
Execs deserve compensation
Dear Editor:
Re: “No more free housing for CS40 executives” and “CS40 execs guaranteed free housing” (April 27)
As next year’s CS40 Executive Board, we would like to express our disappointment with Student Life’s choice to publish two pieces regarding the Exec Board housing process. Besides the factual inaccuracies (we did not know our housing before Round 1, as stated in the news article), we take issue with the staff editorial’s statement that “free housing should not have to be offered in order for a student to run for this position. Wanting to do the job well […] should be the reason for aspiring to be an officer.” The implication that CS40 members choose to run for Exec positions on a whim is false and disrespectful. All five of us – not to mention the candidates we ran against – worked hard this year to ensure CS40’s success, and we all independently decided that running for an Exec position was the best way to deepen our commitment.
Motivations aside, the Exec Board’s housing stipend makes sense if you truly consider the way CS40 operates. The stipend the Exec Board receives is not from Residential Life but is part of the CS40 annual budget, which is approved every year by the CS40 Assembly. Last Tuesday, Shannon Petry, the new director of finance, presented next year’s budget line by line to the Assembly, thoroughly explaining each budget item. After much debate and discussion, next year’s budget was passed unanimously by the Assembly. The members of CS40 are representatives of the people with whom they live. None of these representatives see a problem with the executives receiving free housing, so if students don’t take issue with the free housing, why waste time on a story that frankly isn’t there?
The articles published last Wednesday were not newsworthy, not accurate and not a great way for Student Life to enter a relationship with the newly-elected Executive Board – a relationship we had looked forward to fostering.ÿ ÿÿÿÿÿ ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
Paul Moinester (Speaker of the Congress of the South 40; Class of 2008)
Shannon Petry (Director of Finance; Class of 2008)
Kim Claggett (Director of Services; Class of 2007)
Jamie Resnick (Director of Public Relations; Class of 2008)
Chandan Khandai (Director of Communications; Class of 2008)
Respect dedication of execs
Dear Editor:
Just because Student Union does not currently compensate its executives (it has in the past) does not mean that it is a good idea.
One effect of not compensating student government executives is that it effectively limits the pool of people who can devote the kind of time it requires to do a good job as an executive, 20-40 hours a week, to those who do not need work-study in order to pay for their education, at least not if they want to keep their sanity, health or grades (and I have seen people try attempt this and fail – either they are not good executives or they are physical and/or academic wrecks at the end of the year).
Your story and editorial also failed to mention that living on the South 40 is a requirement of the position.
Since you feel strongly about this, I assume that all of the Student Life editors and writers will give up their compensation since they don’t deserve it any more than the CS40 executives. It doesn’t take any more time to put out a newspaper than it does to run CS40 or Uncle Joe’s.
Dr. Paul Eykamp
Class of 1987
Former Speaker of CS40, SU Assembly and Student Life
The RA parallel
Dear Editor:
Sometimes when I’m bored at work (shhh, don’t tell my boss), I find myself browsing the online edition of Student Life. It helps me see what has transpired since my graduation. Plus, if I ever visit St. Louis, it supplies me with endless material for various small talk (“So … what about that Thurtene carnival going on this weekend?”). Needless to say, I enjoy catching up.
This morning I read a staff editorial outlining various reasons why CS40 execs do not deserve free housing. I have a few ideas, but first let me tell you about my responsibilities as an RA (shout out to Liggett 3 ’02-’03 and Liggett 2 ’03-’04!). Part of the RA “benefit package” includes free room and board. As an RA, I was responsible for creating a safe and fun community on my floor. I programmed numerous activities to meet the needs of my residents and the Residential Life community as a whole. I was constantly working to improve the system by implementing new ideas and supporting my fellow staff members when they wanted to try something new. It was an extremely rewarding experience, and one that I would have done for free. However, I was rewarded monetarily as well – by receiving free room and board.
Now I was involved with CS40 for two years: one as a Ruby/Umrath college council member, and one as the chair of the Residential College Olympics committee. I witnessed first hand the work of CS40 execs. I watched them create a safe and fun community for the South 40 to enjoy. I saw them program numerous activities to meet the needs of the Residential Life community as a whole. I witnessed them constantly working to improve the system by implementing new ideas and supporting their fellow staff members when they wanted to try something new. They found it to be an extremely rewarding experience, and there is no doubt in my mind that it is one that they would do for free. However, they deserve to be rewarded monetarily as well. In a world where so much hard work is underappreciated and undervalued, it seems only fair that a select group of highly dedicated students who work extremely long hours to give back to the Residential Life community should be able to enjoy some of the benefits that community has to offer.
I feel the same way about the Student Union execs, but that whole argument was apparently put to rest last year.
Steve Heisler
Class of 2004