Last Thursday, Lang Student Senate member Corey Mulle attended the first informal meeting of the university student senate where they discussed their individual goals for the ongoing academic year. The meeting was intended to highlight the immediate issues that are affecting the student community around the university, discuss their future plans, and to spread the voice of the resources available through the student senate.
The meeting was held at a local coffee shop near the school where the entire student senate of the university came together to prioritize the issues that are affecting most of the student population. “Among the many things that need to be done at Lang alone,” Corey Mulle explained, “I first want to inform the Lang and entire New School community that the student senate has the power and the funding to advocate for its students.” Mulle claims that the student body is not aware of the resources, support and power that the student senate possess, which is at the disposition of the students. He additionally added that “informing the Lang community thoroughly about the role of the student senate is vital for the oncoming projects.”
The student senate was officially recognized on April 2007 and since then it has undergone numerous structural changes. This is the fourth student election since it was officially legitimized and to date, there are students who claim that it has done poorly in improving the experience of the students. Jay Taylor, a sophomore at Lang, claims that the student senate members “become only false promises…you can’t point out anything they have done that truly benefit the student community.” Among these false promises falls the failure of the student senate to lower the food cost in the school cafeterias last year.
Of course this is only one student account; nonetheless it raises considerable questions as to what the student senate has achieved in the past 3 years. Mulle assured all students that he is committed to serve the students and will work to change the negative perception that students might have through achievement.
Corey Mulle, a sophomore in the Urban Studies program, first became interested in becoming a student senate member while writing for the school press. Mulle shared during the conference that his experienced as a writer in the school press and being also a student in the school made him quite aware of the issues and problems that are increasingly affecting students, but are merely talked about. Among theses issues, he emphasized the need of a functioning and assessable printer at the Lang building for which, according to Mulle, funding can be easily allocated, as well as a working library of the school with adequate space to study.
Mulle surely has won the support of Lang student Gizela Aponte who shared the need of a printing machine at the Lang facility. “We pay a lot of money to come to this college,” Aponte commented while doing her homework in the computer lab at 65 W 11th St building, “and we have to move back and forward just to print. It is annoying.” Mulle proposes to work on these types of issue, which he believes will make a huge difference for the Lang students.
It has only been one week since this first informal meeting was held, and the student senate agenda is already up and running at their website. There is no scheduled meeting at this time, thus the student senate declared that they would start working in the most urgent issues immediately.
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Good changes, Jose! I like the way you better backed up assertions - like the cost of food in the cafeteria. I still think you could move up higher the point Mulle wants to make about the school by and large being unaware of the student senate as a resource. But all in all, much improved. nice work!
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