In its third meeting of the school year, the IU Student Association Congress last night discussed an upcoming Katrina relief trip to Biloxi, Miss., an increase in service-learning classes and student concerns regarding the athletics fee and admission standards.
Winter break relief trip
Katie Schluntz, co-director of volunteer support for IUSA, spoke to the congress about a trip to Biloxi, an area where 70 percent of residential homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Shelter and food for participants in Biloxi will be provided by the Hope Crisis Response Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to disaster relief.
Schluntz estimates the trip, which will take place from Dec. 17 to Dec. 22, will cost less than $100 per person for transportation fees. She said she hopes to further reduce this cost for students who cannot afford it.
"We're going to do some fund raising, because we don't want to turn anyone away," she said.
Originally spawned through the organized Hurricane Katrina relief benefit held Sept. 16 by several student organizations, the trip began as a vague possibility but took shape after more than 200 students expressed interested in participating in the service trip.
Ninety students committed to the trip at a call-out meeting yesterday, but Schluntz said she expects more students to attend.
Service-learning classes
IUSA President Alex Shortle said IUSA is pushing an increase in service-learning classes offered at IU. Currently, there are about 40 service learning classes on campus, which include a volunteer component within the community or travel to other communities in order to apply knowledge learned in class.
"This is something IUSA has never really touched on," Shortle said. "I think it'd be amazing for us to make that statement."
Shortle said IUSA would like to see the number of service-learning classes increase from 40 to 130, so that each major offers students at least one option, and is working on a proposal to present to congress.
Student input
The major function of IUSA is to voice student opinion. In order to do this more effectively, IUSA has created a student survey asking for opinions about issues like the athletics fee and the paperless list of course offerings.
Each senator is required to hand out the questionnaire to at least 10 constituents, and the congress will discuss the results of the survey in its next meeting and debate on behalf of their constituents.
Last year, IU discontinued its use of a comprehensive paper booklet of courses offerings in favor of an electronic-only format. Benefits of this method, Shortle said, include a reduced cost of printing, but he said he believed many students had trouble navigating the electronic format to browse new classes.
"It takes something like 50 clicks to look through classes," he said. "It's ridiculous."
Shortle said IUSA will address the question of whether students approve of only using an electronic format.
Openings
Student representatives who missed more than three congressional meetings are removed from congress, said Congress Vice President Courtney Thom. At the next meeting, the congress will vote on legislation allowing IUSA to remove non-participating members, though Thom said the legislation has passed consistently for years.
If the legislation is passed, 12 representatives out of 62, or 19 percent, will be removed already, including five from off-campus housing and one from McNutt Quad, Teter Quad, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Nursing, School of Informatics, the Department of Labor Studies and the Law school.
Once these representatives are removed, interested students are encouraged to apply to become a congressional representative by filling out an application at the IUSA office in Room 387 of the Indiana Memorial Union.