Student union meeting raises issues, concerns

by Linsey Heiser news editor

Tempers flared as about 230 students gathered together to speak their minds and to seek solutions to the problems that many resident students are dealing with as a result of new resident life policies. This student union meeting was held on Tuesday, Sept. 1.2 and sponsored by the Student Government Association.

As the Widener Center Lecture Hall filled to beyond capacity, many issues that students felt are disrupting their college life were brought up.

Because most of the students attending the meeting were residents, visitation was the first concern. Under the new rules for this year, no opposite sex guests are allowed to stay overnight in any building on campus, including the apartments. Opposite sex guests must leave by 2 a.m. during the week and by 4 a.m. on the weekends. Also, residents in the Dixon house are not allowed to have any visitors at all because of earlier incidents in the year. Many students are upset by the change of rules.

Senior Janine Laskowski said, "Our visitation was taken away. The apartments were supposed to be independent living. Now it is not."

A majority of the students agreed that resident life administrators should have informed the resident students of the new rules. Many students also said that if they had k.n'ownabout the changes they would have moved off campus. SGA president Nick Luchko added, "We signed the resident hall agreements under the old rules, so why should we have new ones"?

Another concern about the new visitation rules is safety. Junior Gabby Beltran said, "How safe is it for people to leave at four in the morning, when they're not allowed to stay overnight"?

Another new visitation rule this year is that commuters are not allowed to stay overnight on campus. While some commuters already feel as if they are missing out on campus activities, this is just another setback to enjoying their college experience. Also, transfer students who are currently being housed at Rosemont College are not allowed to stay overnight.

Some students are not happy with the placement of different classes on campus. They wonder why there are first-year students in the houses, but sophomore and juniors living in Woodcrest and Xavier. This means that some first-year students have more privileges than upperclassmen.

While the members of SGA kept the meeting calm, they asked for solutions to the visitation problems. Some of the solutions mentioned were to have overnight guests, but to sign them in at all times or to just keep the rules that applied last year.

Senior Ben Lunn suggested another solution. Lunn pointed out that the 1999-2000 student handbook says that each resident hall can make their own rules if everyone is in agreement "Why not let the apartments and each house set their own visitation rules," Lunn said. Other concerns of the students deal with parties and alcohol. There will be no more legal parties, held on campus that will serve alcohol. As for parties in the resident halls, each must be registered and the number of people attending listed. However, senior Dave Toia said that he was unable to obtain a party registration form.

The final concern brought up was counseling on campus. Currently, Cabrini has no counselors on campus and students must go off campus for counseling, which could lead to future problems, such as transportation and confidentiality.

The purpose of the student union meeting was not to complain, but to find answers to the problems that the campus is dealing with. A part of the problem is that a lot of the students at the meeting do not even know who to go to address their concerns because of new administrators.

First-year student Elizabeth Gra- ham said, "There is no way to get a straight answer about anything." Others feel that the college is growing and changing too rapidly and the students are being punished as a whole for the mistakes of a few.

The meeting was videotaped and will be shown to President Antoinette Iadorola and anyone else, iftheye choose to view it. SGA parliamentarian, Azeen Keramati, encourages students to keep their voices heard. Both Resident and Commuter councils will be set up in the near future for those who are interested.

Dixon Center Intramural League

Sundays- Volleyball1-3 p.m. starting10/8/00

Tuesdays- Basketball8-10 p.m. starting10/6/00

Wednesdays and Thursdays- Squash3-5:30 p.m.

Fridays- Swim Club, TBA

Saturdays- Ultimate Frisbee11 a.m.-1 p.m. and Flag Football13 p.m. starting~/30/Q0