As the school year enters its second semester, MUSG is looking toward the future and has started holding meetings to discuss the upcoming elections. While this transition will affect the entire student body, the two individuals it affects the most are Ray Redlingshafer and Kathleen Blaney, the President and Vice President of MUSG, respectively.
As such, I thought it would be wise to look at their election platform and see what they have gotten done thus far and what is still left to be completed before the end of the year. I was fortunate enough to be able to ask Blaney some questions about where the Redlingshafer/Blaney camp has been and check out what the future holds.
Here is a quick refresher of what Redlingshafer and Blaney’s campaign promised back in March of 2008. They wanted to create a smoother Student Organization Allocation process, improve communication with the Department of Public Safety about what is going on around campus, and add more computers to the Alumni Memorial Union. In addition, they wanted to add a position on Programs Board directed at service, improve Marquette by making it a more environmentally sustainable campus, improve financial aid, and work on getting an electric LIMO.
According to Blaney, they are doing well at reaching their goals for the school year. In fact, when asked about the possibility that anything on their long list of campaign promises might not get completed, Blaney answered with a simple and confident, “no.”
How is the SOA process going? Well, there were several club sports teams that were deeply troubled by the lack of funding they were able to receive from the budget surplus due to submission deadlines, but the large number of students concerned with this prompted action from MUSG to find a way to get at least some money allocated to them. Other than that snafu, Blaney was happy to announce the holding of three “SOA information workshops… to clarify the funding process.”
She notes that MUSG has a “strong relationship with Chief Rickard” of DPS and the Neighborhood Initiatives Committee discusses safety issues on campus and the surrounding area.
As for the computers in the AMU, that is something that was brought to the Senate a long time ago. However, none have been installed and many people have complained that it has taken way too long to actually get the computers for student use.
No word from Blaney about the service position being enacted or proposed for Programs Board, but she said that MUSG started a Thanksgiving food drive competition back in November.
While Redlingshafer sits on the Environmental Task Force, nothing concrete has materialized out of this goal, but Blaney said that ETF is “in the process of organizing a new website to explain the sustainability and environmental movements of the university.” This future website will also include a place for students to post their environmental concerns.
The other environmentally friendly goal of Redlingshafer and Blaney was to have a working electric LIMO on campus but that has not yet happened.
It was unclear at the time of publication how MUSG has improved financial aid, but as soon as the Warrior knows, you’ll know.
As you can see, it is a mixed bag of accomplishments and hypotheticals for the Redlingshafer administration, however, Blaney, as noted before, is confident all the things they have promised the student body will eventually get done. We may have to wait until after their administration is complete to see their vision come to be.
If there is something you as a student feel is missing from campus, or if you don’t feel that MUSG is doing enough, there is always something you can do about it. Tell your representative how you feel, come to a Senate meeting and voice your opinion during the forum for concerned students, or even run for MUSG President. Elections are coming up, you know!
Popularity: 12% [?]
