By Andrea Picou, Staff Writer

Published in print Sept. 17, 2014

The annual State of the Campus Address was given by Simone Stephens last Tuesday, September 9 and was immediately followed by an SGA meeting. 

President Stephens introduced her goals for the year, telling the audience, “This mission is focused on three main points that we keep in the forefront of all our decisions.” She continued, “The first is to reduce student apathy and increase student engagement. The second, to be an active liaison between UNCG administration and students, with a primary focus on serving the students. And third, to effectively and actively channel and champion the voices of the students.”

She told the students, faculty, and administrators gathered that UNCG’s administration along with Associate Provost for Enrollment Management, Bryan Terry, have a plan to improve enrollment retention and graduation rates.

The student body was told, “We as a campus can look forward to increased efforts on student safety.” Stephens specified that UNCG is “continually completing implementations of high priority recommendations of the 2007 Safety Task Force.” UNCG is working on a campus safety app and a Title IX Response Team. She did not mention the more recent Campus Security Initiative published on July 31st of 2014.

Continuing on the theme of security, Stephens announced that Campus Safety Walks would open up to include students, along with staff and faculty. The goal of these walks is to hear directly from the student body about concerning areas on campus.

Stephens clued the audience in on new programs UNCG is instituting, like a Financial Literacy series and more programs on personal development in future careers. 

President Stephens spoke about the “Great advancements on W. Lee St.” mentioning  the new police station to be opened in October, the new Student Recreation Center, and Union Square Campus, a collaboration between UNCG, NC A&T, GTCC and Cone Hospital.  The University is also discussing building another residence hall on UNCG property on W. Lee St.

The SGA meeting began after the State of the Campus, during which members of the executive board reported to the student body and Senators were able to speak during the Senate forum.

Attorney General Brittany Whitlow gave a report on conduct violations on UNCG’s campus between August 18 and September 5. There were total of 51 charges distributed among 34 students. Twenty of the charged were for “disturbing the peace of the community” and nineteen were for alcohol violations. Twenty of the students charged were freshmen, nine were sophomores, two juniors, and three seniors.

Justin Southern, the Secretary of Community Affairs reported on the Association of Student Governments conference he had recently attended. He told the audience that President Stephens won Chairman of the President’s Council at ASG.

Southern pushed the senators and officers to get involved in community service and told them to “Get ready to volunteer a lot.” He proposed a few community-oriented initiatives like a Diversity Campaign and Caf Appreciation Week. 

The Secretary of Media Affairs, Naomi Thomas, is working on a website independent of UNCG’s server. She said it would provide more flexibility.

The body approved the elections timeline as developed at presented by Brittany Archie, the elections chair. The full process begun on September tenth, and will extend until the results are announced at three p.m. on September 29. On September 30 the newly elected members will attend their first SGA meeting.

During the Senate forum, senators discussed issues the student body had brought to their attention and updated each other on old business. There was some concern about online classes costing the same as traditional classes, the quality of cafeteria food and about the commute to distant schools for required internships in the School of Education.

The proposed five dollar per student per semester Green Fund proposed by UNCGreen will be discussed further in a meeting with SGA leadership. The five dollar fee may be too high in light of the cap on student fees.