Over the last semester, the Student Affairs Committee devised new initiatives for the student body. The chairperson Nandini Patel, a fourth-year Computer Engineering student, has supported the members as they developed three main initiatives and a few ad-hoc committees.
The first initiative started last semester with the extension of the Warren Street Gym hours. During the fall semester, the gym was open from 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. The Student Senate transferred $1,301.16 for the fall semester to extend the hours to 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. – an additional two-and-a-half hours each day. For the spring semester, the gym will have extended hours from Monday to Thursday, with Friday following the original schedule of 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. For the spring semester, the cost of the additional hours for facilities and maintenance will be $2,817.84.
Over the course of a trial week in the fall semester, the committee set up a scanner to collect attendance and demonstrate student interest in the extended hours. The hope is that the committee can persuade the Athletics department to cover the cost moving forward. The figure below shows the number of unique IDs swiped during the week of Sept. 22. There is a significant increase in IDs swiped between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and a steady climb in student attendance from 6 – 9 p.m.
Two months before the end of the fall semester, the Student Affairs committee brought this initiative to a general body meeting. The final vote was in favor of continuing funding for the spring semester. The voting will occur again in March, and the Senate will determine if it can fund the hours considering the increase in the minimum wage for NJIT staff. Patel is especially proud of this initiative; she described this as a “big win for students” following the two-year period of advocacy and emailing for approval.
The second initiative for the Student Affairs committee is Cans for Citations, where NJIT students can pay off one $50 parking ticket issued by NJIT police by donating at least $25 of canned goods and non-perishables to the Highlander House located in the NJIT food pantry on the fourth floor of Campus Center. The fall semester had a total of six tickets paid off. While Patel acknowledges there wasn’t as much publicity for this initiative, she assures that this semester will give students enough time to partake and that this will be a recurring initiative for future semesters.
The third initiative is Study Sync, an after-hours tutoring program currently in Redwood’s Glass Lounge. The Learning Center hired students to tutor in math, chemistry, physics, and computer science every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday from 7 – 10 p.m. Study Sync began this semester on Feb. 1 and is in the process of hiring writing tutors. While attendance is not heavily tracked during each day, Patel estimates that at least five to seven students use the service each day.
The first of the temporary committees developed this semester is the move-out waste committee, initially proposed by Abhinav Kokkula, a second-year Financial Technology student who works for the Office of Sustainability. During each of the last four weeks of the semester there will be a focus on a different category of items that students throw away when moving out of their dorms, such as furniture, clothes, and electronics. There will be bins set up in each residence hall, and the collected items will either be donated to local Newark donation centers or given away as part of a drive for NJIT students moving in the following semester.
Next, the Student Life Ad-Hoc Committee, spearheaded by Erick Villavicencio, a first-year representative majoring in Mathematical Sciences, aims to help incoming freshmen and transfer students find a belonging on campus by pairing them with students and organizations that share their interests.
While not an official initiative, Student Affairs is also working to add vending machines on campus with microwavable food, phone chargers, and menstrual products. Based on student responses, the vending machines will first be added to residence halls with the most requested items, and later to the Campus Center and other locations accessible to students.
The Student Affairs Committee is just one of the committees encompassed under the umbrella of the Student Senate. Their initiatives are guided by student feedback and inquiries, so any students interested in bringing their ideas to reality can contribute, with the ad-hoc committees holding open meetings on a weekly basis. Interested students can join as students-at-large.
