Still without a president, Student Council (StuCo) convened Tuesday night to address the group's agenda for the next few weeks. StuCo has been meeting every two weeks, and will continue to do so until a president has been elected.
Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell and Community Relations Coordinator Salem Reiner attended the meeting to discuss the need for improved lighting in the areas surrounding campus.
"We're looking to move on this quickly and efficiently," Reiner said. "This is obviously very important."
Reiner asked StuCo members for assistance in compiling "a listing of locations where you feel the lighting is not sufficient for your personal safety."
While not all areas of concern are on campus or Hopkins-affiliated, steps will still be taken to get the lighting improved in student-frequented areas.
Boswell mentioned she was "hoping to put some pressure on the city, and on others" if lighting was found to be necessary in places that Hopkins does not own.
Reiner said that the area of focus is roughly from 28th Street north to a few blocks past University Parkway; from Barclay in the east to Wyman Park at the west end of campus, "basically the area patrolled by Hopkins Security Officers."
Reiner hopes to have a list of locations within the next few weeks.
Junior Nattavadee Temkasem, vice-president of student life, has recently acted as president, and opened the meeting.
Vice President of Entertainment, junior Nurain Fuseini, discussed how the spirit committee, a subcommittee of the entertainment committee, has been working on ways to improve school spirit, including the possibility of a spirit week to be hosted later this year.
The junior class officers added that recent efforts to push students to take advantage of the Inner Harbor's offering were successful. Two vans brought students to and from the Inner Harbor last Friday night.
Once discussion opened up to the rest of the group, a number of seniors in attendance complained of disillusionment with this years' DisOrientation.
This year, DisOrientation focused more on the Career Center and getting students acquainted with it's programming. Many of the traditions associated with DisOrientation, such as the 'booze cruise' and a club night, were eliminated in favor of events that sought to prepare seniors for the job hunt.
In response to the complaints, Senior Class President Payal Patel said, "The administration didn't want a pub crawl or a booze cruise this year." She went on to describe how the events for DisOrientation needed to be things that people 18 and over could participate in, not only those seniors who have already turned 21.
Director of Student Involvement Jeff Groden-Thomas mentioned that people have previously complained about using the budgeted money for 21-and-over events.
He added, "The budget for DisOrientation comes out of the Deans' Office and is specifically tagged for career service information."
