Though they may not know the details, most NJIT students have realized by now that there is a new sheriff in town.
Jeremy Bedient, former Vice President of Administration, has stepped up to the role of President of Student Senate.
Bedient hopes to accomplish a great many things this year; as he put it, “we [Senate] are just a community of students who really love NJIT and want to see it made better.”
One of the things Bedient expressed an interest in was working to find other study materials that could potentially lower the cost of books and software for students. “Textbooks are a huge burden on a lot of students. I know that I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in a semester just on textbooks or access codes, and so [we’re] trying to find a way to lower those costs as much as possible … we’re partnering with groups like the library, different course coordinators in departments, and even the bookstore to try to find better options for students.”
But there are more ways he hopes Senate can help with students’ expenses. With many students frequenting local restaurants, barber shops, and stores, it would only help if Senate could find a way to get discounts for its students at these establishments.
Bedient also noted two other possibilities of things to fix or bring to NJIT. One of the points he mentioned was the possible extension of the add and drop period for classes, to make it easier to adjust schedules when the semester begins. In addition, he discussed grading criteria, stating that they are often unequally weighted. With more of the focus on tests rather than work assigned, many students struggle in classes. Focusing on data of a pass-fail rate from past years and the weight of the grading could prove to be beneficial he says, as it could help Senate push for a change in grading style that would benefit students the most in the future.
Lastly, Bedient and the Student Senate team are in the middle of planning a concert at NJIT slated for Spring 2019, which he describes as being “something that has been worked on in previous years and we haven’t had for quite a while.”
But there’s still more to knowto know about Jeremy other than the fact that he is on Student Senate. “So I go camping a lot,” he says, “I have a group of friends that try to organize something once every couple [of] months. Quick weekend trips, they’re fun. I like playing frisbee with people. And then I do a lot with my church; I go to church in Jersey City every Sunday, and [I] help volunteer with them. Spend time with the people there. Whole bunch of fun and it’s just again like another great community to be a part of.”
On campus Bedient is a member of the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi and works at the Highlander Pub. A sophomore Industrial Engineering major in the Honors College, he plans to minor in Data Analytics, having had an interest in computer science since high school.
Optimistically, Bedient concluded: “So I think everyone can definitely be expecting to see big changes in the way that we do things, whether it be related to clubs, finance, [or] the things we’re doing out on campus. I think the only other thing would be we’ve got our new office down on the first floor [of the Campus Center] and we’d be happy to have anyone come down any time. Just hang out and talk to us, get to know us, because we want to be as integrated into the student body as possible.”
