In Student Union (SU) Senate’s final meeting for the semester, senators presented reports regarding food accessibility for students and a resolution calling to extend the course-drop deadline, which passed unanimously, Nov 19. 

The meeting also featured presentations from administrators regarding dining and WashU’s new leadership program. Additionally, the Vice Chancellor for Government & Community Relations came to talk to senators about payment in lieu of taxes, confirming that WashU will not be making payments through the program. 

Junior Natalia León-Díaz, sophomore Emaan Sayied, junior Beni Bisimwa, and sophomore Sonali Sharma are the senators who presented a report regarding dining’s negative impact on students to Senate and Dining Services leadership. 

Their presentation included an analysis of 540 student responses to a survey conducted by SU and Student Life. In the survey, 60% of respondents said they are skipping meals, and 81% said they are eating off campus because of high dining prices. 

“An overwhelming majority of students indicated that [their dining] experience causes them a lot of stress,” León-Díaz said. “Specifically, 95% [of students] report stress from dining costs.”

The senators noted that institutions such as Emory University and Tulane University have unlimited meal plans at comparable prices to WashU’s current meal plans. WashU’s highest plan does not cover three meals a day. 

The senators recommended providing unlimited meal points for first-years, decreasing the prices of food, increasing accessibility to food on the East End and for Kosher students, and being transparent about meal plans so that students can budget accordingly.

Sophomore Sonali Sharma, senior Sarah Ash, first-year Matthew Broome, sophomore Maya Santhanam, senior Lupita Chavez are the senators who presented a report calling for a refrigerator to be installed in Sam Fox. In the survey, 95% of Sam Fox students said they were not happy with their food options, particularly with options late at night. The location of the refrigerator is yet to be determined, but Sharma hopes that Sam Fox administrators will find space for the fridge.

WashU Dining Services said in their Q&A with Senate that they hope to reduce dining prices — particularly for All You Care To Eat (AYCTE) — by sourcing food locally in the future, increasing hours at Parkside and students’ access to food on the East End, and adding hot-meal options at Cherry Tree for AYCTE so that students have more affordable alternatives for dinner.

Vice Chancellor of University Services James Dwyer said significant changes in WashU’s dining providers and broader economic factors such as inflation impacted dining this past year. Dwyer said is committed to enhancing students’ dining experience.

“There was much change, and that all kind of caught up last year,” Dwyer said. “We know pricing was an issue, and that was not right, so the goal now is to fix it.”

Junior Omar Abdelmoity, first-year Asher Lubin, junior Mika Kipnis, sophomore Chantal Ogbeifun, and junior Salman Yonis are the senators who presented a report to push back the course-drop deadline, as students currently have 10 days from the start of the semester to drop courses. Lubin hopes this change will help first-years like himself with scheduling, since they are still exploring their interests. 

“One of the things that we talked about when making this report was a focus on first-years,” Lubin said. “I can attest to the fact that first-years don’t exactly know what they want to study [and] don’t know how to schedule.”

They subsequently presented a resolution calling for mandatory readings and textbooks to be made available through WashU Libraries’ Reserve System so that students, irrespective of their socioeconomic situation, can get the materials they need. The system suggested in the resolution would require professors to tell WashU Libraries all required materials for their classes so that the library can find them and post them in the Reserve System.

Abdelmoity said that students will be able to make copies of physical resources and check out segments of online resources from the Reserve System.

“Ideally, we would be able to buy a textbook for every single student, [but] that’s not feasible, so this is just trying to take those steps forward to decrease the current gap that exists,” Abdelmoity said. The resolution passed 19-0.

Andrew Knight — Professor and Executive Director of the Bauer Leadership Academy — then explained a new leadership institute to Senate which plans to develop students’ and faculty’s leadership skills through activities, workshop-based programs, and advising from ICF-certified undergraduate coaches.

Subsequently, J.D. Burton — Vice Chancellor for Government & Community Relations — then gave a presentation regarding WashU’s legal relationships with St. Louis and Missouri. He explained his role as Vice Chancellor of Government & Community Relations, which entails vocalizing WashU’s legal interests to local and federal legislators. 

Burton said his job primarily concerns taxation on donations to WashU; immigration policies which can affect students and faculty; and legislation that impacts the “independence of our school” as Burton put it.

The presentation centered around PILOT, also known as payment in lieu of taxes. Students and St. Louisians have called for WashU to pay PILOT given that they do not pay property taxes. WashU does not currently pay PILOT, and according to Burton, likely will not in the future.

“WashU has not engaged in PILOT agreements, and we won’t be,” Burton said. “We believe that the economic impact that WashU is providing within this region outweighs what the impact of a PILOT could be, and we think that that impact often gets overlooked within this larger PILOT discussion.”

Burton said WashU annually contributes $8.8 billion to St. Louis’ economy, with nearly $2.46 billion produced by WashU research and $400 million in last year’s construction contracts. 

WashU also contributes to St. Louis through advocacy work, which Burton hopes to enhance through a new Advocacy Engagement Coordinator who will pair students and alumni to advocate for different issues. Burton also plans to start a Bear caucus for students, which will help students explore career options in advocacy work.

Sophomore Saara Engineer — Diversity and Inclusivity Senator — expressed concern that WashU is not doing enough for St. Louis, given that other universities, such as Brown University, pay PILOT. Burton responded that there is no such thing as enough.

“We’re never going to rest on our laurels and say we’re doing enough, because that would never be enough,” Burton said. “We believe that the contributions we’re making are impactful, significant, and, in our mind, the right approach, in terms of [what] we invest [in] and [the services] we provide, versus just providing a dollar figure.”

Junior Ella Scott — Speaker of Senate — said that local legislators want WashU to pay PILOT. Burton responded that WashU is open to having a conversation regarding this matter with local government representatives.

In the closing of Senate’s final meeting this semester, SU reflected on the past semester, looking at everything that they have accomplished and their excitement for another semester of SU.

Scott ended her last meeting as Speaker by expressing her pride for the work that Senate has done this term.

“I appreciate you guys so much — you’ve all worked so hard, and I’m proud of us,” Scott said. “It’s been such a great time, and I don’t know how it’s over.”