Author: Cy Heffley

President’s Mandatory Fee Recommendation

Lea Harris, Graduate SGA President and Brielle Lonsberry, Undergraduate SGA President met with administrators to discuss the mandatory student fee proposal for the 2021-2022 academic year. They worked with the Mandatory Student Fee Advisory Committee (MSFAC), to prepare a thoughtful and balanced recommendation.

The Committee’s recommendation was carefully considered alongside other available and relevant information including the joint SGA statement on the fee recommendation. In addition to University System of Georgia guidance, reduced spending due to remote activities during the current year and the potential for additional federal funding to support Higher Education during the Covid-19 pandemic provided a path for bridging the Student Center and Student Activity proposed fee increases through Fiscal Year 2022. Based on this information, the President submitted a recommendation for no fee increases or adjustments in Fiscal Year 2022, consistent with the Chancellor’s memo dated December 2, 2020. Kelly Fox, Executive Vice President for Administration & Finance, agreed with Brielle and Lea’s approach to maintain the current overall fee level while shifting fee levels and revenue to fees that provide the greatest benefit to the students. Kelly anticipates a need for increases in Fiscal Year 2023 for both fees. Administrators will work to balance fee increases with other fee decreases while meeting the needs and expectations of the student community. 

November Newsletter

Course Critique Update + Spring Registration Resources

The SGA Information Technology Board has been working hard on a new version of Course Critique. Earlier this week, the new version went live at https://critique.gatech.edu. The application is now built on React.js and AWS. Other features in development include the integration of course syllabi links and CIOS information into course and professor tables. To support student developers on campus, IT Board is also working on publicly providing the Course Critique API in the coming months. Other registration resources include the numerical information from CIOS data, which can be found here, and a Bits of Good course scheduler which can be found here. Feel free to email it@sga.gatech.edu with any questions.

Buzz to the Ballot!

Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion hosted early voting for Fulton County residents on October 21-23 and served approximately 1,500 voters with minimal wait times. The early voting precinct was staffed by a mix between Georgia Tech students and Fulton County Staff, with SGA Vice President of External Affairs Samuel Ellis serving as the poll manager. On November 3rd, McCamish Pavilion served as Fulton County Polling Precincts 03I and 02L2 and was the first fully student-staffed general election day polling precinct in the country. Athletics gave out pizza, waters, and snacks to those standing in line and we worked with a Georgia Tech research team to optimize the layout of the polling place on election day. Between early voting and election day, nearly 2,000 people voted at McCamish Pavilion!

Updates from Around the Institute

Department of Homeland Security Advocacy

SGA partnered with Georgia Tech International Ambassadors to advocate against the September 25, 2020 rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security that would arbitrarily limit international student visa lengths and place additional restrictions on student visas based on an individual’s country of origin. You can read the letter sent to Senators Perdue and Loeffler here. 

Mandatory Student Fee Advisory Committee Update

MSFAC, the committee which reviews the current mandatory fee levels, has begun meeting and hearing presentations for the coming academic year’s mandatory student fee proposals. All information, meeting times, and further resources can be accessed here. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to reach out to the committee here. 

Commencement Student Speaker Application

Graduating this semester and want to speak to your fellow Yellow Jackets during your commencement ceremony? Apply to be one of the student commencement speakers here! The deadline to apply is November 12, 2020 at 12:00pm. 

Hiring of 5 New Positions in the Counseling Center and CARE

Georgia Tech CARE has received approval to hire an immediate temporary tech position and two new clinical case managers to begin full-time for the Spring semester. Additionally, the Counseling Center has hired two new counselors, one of which recently started.

Georgia Tech Personal Finance Course

Be on the lookout for GT’s Personal Finance Course this spring semester! It will be coded as GT 4801 in BuzzPort and is one-credit hour. If you’re interested in learning more about managing your money, this is the course for you! To learn more about this and other exciting course offerings, click here to contact SGA’s Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Need Assistance with Your Financial Aid?

Be on the lookout for emails from the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OFSA) to fill out your application for the next academic year. Reach out to OFSA anytime if you have questions about your application, want to apply or need any help. In particular, if you have questions about how COVID-19 may impact your ability to pay for school, this office is a great resource. Find them here.

Message from the SGA Vice President of Student Life

HAPPY NOVEMBER, Folks!  

It’s the final stretch of the semester. You all have worked tirelessly through the semester and I’m proud of each and every one of you! This month is jam-packed with elections, finals, holidays, and travels. With everything happening at once this month, it’s VERY important to take care of yourself. If you’re not sure what help you need or where to start, I listed some links below to help. Always remember that you’re not alone. Please contact someone if you’re in need of assistance so that you can get the support you need!

Try to get outside for a walk, catch up with an old friend, or watch that show your friend recommended to you that one time. Just remember to take time for you! Good luck with finals, Yellow Jackets! If you have any questions, suggestions, worries, or just want to talk, reach out to me at  studentlife@sga.gatech.edu.

Read SGA Student Life’s Full Update Here

Campus Services: A Month of Change

Housing & Residence Life (HRL): Free Laundry & RA Conversations

On Tuesday, October 20th, the efforts of long-term student advocacy led to the elimination of laundry costs for all residents beginning in January 2021. This is a major win for the student body and one, very large step towards rebuilding trust between students and Campus Services. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but this successful effort is proof that there are short-term, attainable changes here at Tech that can be made when we make our voices heard.

Additionally, the SGA Campus Services unit has been conducting conversations with both Housing & Residence Life administration and current/former Resident Assistants (RA) via the Campus Services StudentExecutive Advisory (CSSEA). The purpose of these conversations is to better understand the underlying issues with the RA position, and develop actionable advocacy items for SGA to encourage HRL to adopt. CSSEA meetings are open to all students and occur on a daily basis. You can find out more here

Dining: SGA/Auxiliary Services’ Focus Group Results
Following the completion of a focus group series in collaboration with Auxiliary Services, SGA has developed the following set of initial recommendations for Georgia Tech Dining to implement. Further advocacy and results will soon be released as SGA works to move quickly to our next phase of reinventing meal plans at Tech. You can view our initial findings here.

Campus Services: Open Chats w/ VPCS & Study Spaces Survey
Hearing concerns and ideas from students is critically important to the advocacy efforts of the SGA’s Campus Services’ unit. If you have a story, idea, or a concern to share with your student advocates about Campus Services, please email the Campus Services’ team at campusservices@gatech.edu to get connected with a member of our team.

Additionally, SGA is heading a project to aggregate study spaces across campus. We understand that this semester, not everyone has had the opportunity to explore campus, so we’re working to compile a list of spaces to share with the GT community. Send us your favorite places to study by filling out this form!

Opinion Survey on GT Recycling and Composting

FreShGA is one of many First-year Leadership Organizations on campus. For their fall semester project, they hope to gauge student awareness and opinion on GT’s current sustainability initiatives and existing recycling and composting infrastructure. Based on the results of this survey, FreShGA will highlight what is and isn’t working well, and propose a series of changes to the recycling and composting policy that will hopefully be enacted in the near future. Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey!

September Newsletter

Committee Member Applications

Applications to join SGA committees are now live on Engage until September 14th at 11:45PM. If you are interested in being involved in any part of SGA– from creating IT tools to student advocacy to logistical planning, or making your own unique impact on campus in any area– then apply! There is truly a committee for everyone. You can learn more about all of our committees at https://www.sga.gatech.edu/undergrad-exec/executive-committees/ and apply to join at https://www.sga.gatech.edu/committeeapplication

Apply to join the Undergraduate House of Representatives!

The Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR) is a directly elected representative body made up of Georgia Tech students from every significantly populous portion of the student body including majors/colleges, classifications, international students, athletes, transfer students, & co-op students. It is a great opportunity to not only give back to the student body by allowing their voices to be heard, but also to grow as a leader and a professional as well. With the initiatives it implements and the campus issues it addresses, the UHR strives to make the student experience as comfortable and enriching as possible, and you can be a part of that! Apply at https://www.sga.gatech.edu/applyuhr

Wreck the Vote

SGA’s annual Wreck the Vote voter registration campaign will be held during the week of September 14th! This partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated is part of SGA’s ongoing effort to engage Georgia Tech students in different political processes. This year, the campaign will be focusing on helping students request absentee ballots in the wake of COVID-19 and help establish voting plans for the day of the election. On September 17th at 6:00PM, SGA and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated will be hosting a virtual political debate between various political organizations on campus.

Campus Printing Updates

Your free print allocation will now be deposited as a lump sum at the beginning of each semester, as opposed to an allocated amount per week. Central-PS lockers are now located in Room 215 in the Clough building behind Starbucks due to the Student Center construction. You can access the free central printing (limit of 1,200 pages per semester) at https://central-ps.gatech.edu/fulfillment/. For all printing information visit https://faq.oit.gatech.edu/content/what-printing-options-are-available-campus.

Wreck the Vote

SGA’s annual Wreck the Vote voter registration campaign will be held during the week of September 14th! This partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated is part of SGA’s ongoing effort to engage Georgia Tech students in different political processes. This year, the campaign will be focusing on helping students request absentee ballots in the wake of COVID-19 and help establish voting plans for the day of the election. On September 17th at 6:00PM, SGA and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated will be hosting a virtual political debate between various political organizations on campus.

Mural on Campus

Mural on CampusFor the first time in Georgia Tech’s history, plans are in place to have a mural painted on campus! As part of this process, SGA is gathering student opinions on what the mural should include. To have your ideas represented, please click here to fill out the short survey.

Campus Services – Issues We’re Experiencing & How You Can Help

SGA’s Campus Services’ team is working to actively aggregate and proactively address issues and concerns students are facing with any of GT’s Campus Services (dining, Buzzcard, exhibition hall, CRC, PTS, housing, and bookstore). If you have an issue or concern you’d like to share with us (the whole team is made up of students!), you can reach out to us anytime at campusservices@sga.gatech.edu.

CRC: The Campus Recreation Center (CRC) had nearly 600 no-shows, nearly 8 hours of lost reservation time, for the first week of the fall semester. Given the limited amount of slots available each day, if you cannot make it to your reserved time at the CRC, please be sure to cancel your reservation as soon as possible to allow spots for other students to utilize the facilities during the currently limited hours. If you’d like to sign up to use the CRC, you can do so by heading over to https://mycrc.gatech.edu/.

Dining: SGA has been working with GT Dining to address the long lines and social distancing-related concerns at primary dining halls. We’ve implemented an entirely student-run line manager program and will continue the program indefinitely this semester. If interested, please reach out to jacketsprotectjackets@sga.gatech.edu for more details. You can help out in two ways: 1) When in line at a dining location, remain 6 feet apart from everyone (friends and roommates included) 2) Download the new GT Dining app (search for “Georgia Tech Connect” in your app store) for mobile ordering and access to any changes in dining services. Additionally, we’ve strongly encouraged Dining to increase transparency regarding the cleaning procedures and processes that take place when a positive case is reported from a GT Dining employee.

Housing: If you are a Georgia Tech Housing resident, you should get tested weekly at any of the free, on-campus surveillance testing locations. It is not enough to get tested only once. As of Saturday, August 22nd, only 55% of on-campus residents had participated in testing. To catch an outbreak early, we need to regularly hit a 90% weekly testing rate from on-campus residents. All testing details and signup related materials can be found at https://mytest.gatech.edu/. 

Check Your Course Syllabi!

SGA wants to remind all students that they should be checking their course syllabi for important points in order to be sure each course is complying with Institute policies. This includes that no tests or quizzes may be administered on the final instructional class day of the semester, which is the last day the class officially meets. Homework, assignments, labs, and projects may still be due, but all quizzes and tests should be graded and reported to students on or before the Final Instructional Class Day. 

Classes may not meet during the Reading Period, and no assignments or graded activities are allowed during this time. Optional study sessions are allowed. If you know you have three final exams in one day, you may reschedule the exam for the middle period. You must notify the instructor no later than two weeks before the Thursday of the final exam period. 

If you have any issues with courses, talk directly with your instructor. Oftentimes, that’s the best way to solve the problem you may be facing. If you need further help, reach out to Dr. Kyla Ross, the Assistant Vice Provost of Advocacy and Conflict Resolution at kyla.ross@gatech.edu. 

If you ever want to share concerns, ideas, or questions with the SGA Academic Affairs Team, please email academics@sga.gatech.edu. SGA Academic Affairs is looking forward to continuing to hear student input about how we learn from COVID-19 and provide more course opportunities for students, as well as work on new initiatives this year, like revitalizing APPH course curriculum and expanding personal finance courses.

External Affairs/Advocacy Updates

Following the Department of Education’s reforms to Title IX sexual assault complaint procedure, Georgia Tech partnered with UGA to successfully lobby the University System of Georgia to adopt a survivor-focused Title IX procedure that prioritizes the mental health and well-being of survivors. Our new Georgia Tech policy can be accessed at https://policylibrary.gatech.edu/student-life/sexual-misconduct. 

On July 14, the Faculty Executive Board passed a motion brought forth by representatives from SGA, requesting that teaching faculty provide academic consideration for student voters on November 3, Election Day. The motion requested that for Election Day, faculty consider moving lectures to an asynchronous format, avoid scheduling in-class quizzes, tests, or assessments, and make lecture recordings available for students unable to attend class that day. The Faculty Executive Board passed the motion, clarifying that classes will still be in session November 3. Faculty are strongly encouraged to consider making these modifications in order to give Georgia Tech students ample opportunity to participate in the election.

SGA will continue working with the Faculty Executive Board and Institute Standing Committees with the goal of creating a policy that sustains this efforts for election days to come.

McCamish Pavilion has officially been approved as a polling location for the general election! Early voting for Fulton County voters will occur at the location October 21, 22, and 23 in addition to the general election on November 3.

Closing

As always, please email sga@gatech.edu to let us know if you have questions or concerns! We’re always here to serve the Georgia Tech Student Body.