Guest speaker Margaret Carney, University architect and planner, dominated this week’s Case Western Reserve University Undergraduate Student Government (USG) General Assembly. Her hour-long presentation highlighted five major projects in University Circle that will directly benefit CWRU students within the next five years and fulfill the mission of unifying the campus.
“There’s a lot of overlap between institutions, and it’s hard to know where the Case campus actually is,” Carney said. She touched on various construction efforts in all corners of the campus, including the much-hyped Uptown project, construction at the intersection of Euclid Ave. and Adelbert Road, the new Maltz Center for the Performing Arts in the Tifereth Israel temple, and the new Cedar RTA Rapid station.
Almost the entire first half of her presentation focused on her biggest point, the new University Campus Center to be completed by 2014. It will house student organizations, retail stores, and offer a gathering point for students to study or just relax together. The Campus Center will be located in the geographic center of campus,right next to Kelvin Smith Library on the ground that is currently Freiberger Field. “This is the only open space left along East Boulevard,” said Carney, “So this will really be an important unifying building.”
The Committee Reports portion of the meeting flew by, as most speakers referred those in attendance to the agenda due to time constraints.USG president Minh-Tri Nguyen highlighted preparations for Homecoming Weekend, which is Oct. 2 and 3. The annual 5K race, the Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Race for Education, will be held on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 2, with registration starting at 7:30 a.m.
Vice president of academic affairs Jared Hamilton described a meeting with Deputy Provost Lynn Singer about the lack of scholarships for international students. “Giving international students financial aid would be difficult, but merit based scholarships should be possible,” said Hamilton. It is also possible that the medical school and MSASS will team up to create interdisciplinary majors, including neuroscience and social justice.
During new business, parliamentarian Doug Brubaker nominated five members for the USG Judicial Board, all of which were approved. The Board’s new members are Andrew Brown, Alicia Bennett, Joe Foggarty, Leah Epstein, and Chris Linderwell. When asked what qualities he considered for his nominations, Brubaker said he “tried to find a balance of year (class), major, career plan, and campus involvement.”
Vice president of finance Colin Downey also introduced a new bill to recognize new student groups before the next phase of mass funding. Though these groups will still have to resubmit for mass funding in October, recognizing them now makes it easier because the groups will just have to sign off on existing forms.
Finally, it was announced that Liberty for North Korea is on a national tour with their documentary Hiding, “which will focus on North Koreans and their struggle to survive once they have escaped into China.” CWRU’s chapter of the group will be screening the film in Strosacker Auditorium on Monday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.