Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeStudents bring up numerous topics at Forum
October 31, 2005 —
Tailgating, sidewalks, and lighting were a few of the topics discussed during the President's Open Forum in the Alumni Lounge, Monday, Oct. 17.
New tailgating guidelines drew the most discussion, as President Eric R. Gilbertson expressed concern with some of the students' conduct before and during football games. Gilbertson said he had heard a number of families moved away from students during the game at Grand Valley because of vulgarity and that fellow students have even expressed a desire not to sit in the student section during home games because of crowd behavior.
"I'd like to video tape some of these people and play it back to them when they're sober," Gilbertson said. "I think they'd be pretty embarrassed."
Some of the students in attendance worried that if too many restrictions were placed on tailgating, people would stop attending all together. Student Association's Campus Events Chair Beth Schaefer voiced concern over issuing one punishment to all students.
"You can't have one punishment for everyone when it's a small group of people behaving badly," she said.
Gilbertson asked for alternative ideas and some students suggested having a separate tailgating section or not allowing people into the stadium if they were too intoxicated. However, no decision was made and Gilbertson urged students to provide suggestions as to how to help fix the problem.
"We need to find a balance," he said, "between a boring Sunday school and the Wild West."
A lack of lighting on the trail that runs along the west end of campus was also discussed. Students brought up that a lack of lighting and tall weeds could leave trail-users vulnerable to assault. It was mentioned that some students have even begun referring to it as the "rape trail."
While Gilbertson said he is upset the trail is getting a bad name, he mentioned that it was never intended for use at night, that no trouble has been reported along the trail and that students need to use common sense when it comes to the matter of where it is safe to go at night.
In addition, a number of suggestions were made regarding campus sidewalks. Some brought up a lack of sidewalks between the Regional Education Center and Science East and the REC and University Village. Gilbertson said the University would look into it, and last week, workers started constructing a sidewalk from the Village to the REC.
Issues concerning smokers and their distance from buildings and people smoking on the patio on the second floor of SE were discussed. Gilbertson said that it would be impractical to dedicate all of Public Safety's time to cracking down on smoking distance enforcements and that ultimately it would be up to the students to be courteous and understanding. In addition, one student discussed the lack of an ashtray on the second floor patio. Gilbertson said the patio was never intended for smokers, is not 25 feet from the building and thus smoking should not be allowed there. He discussed putting "no smoking" signs up to try to stop it.
Ken Schindler, executive director of Informational Technology Services, discussed looking into adding more storage space on CardMail in the next four to five months after one student voiced concern over a lack of space. The student said that free e-mail accounts often offer a gigabyte or more, and that more students may use their CardMail accounts more if they had additional space.
Concerns with broken glass in the parking lot, a non-working handicap door near the bookstore and a broken card account reader near the bookstore were also brought up. Gilbertson said the University would look into the matters.