The UH Student Government Association held a town hall meeting on Wednesday night providing students with a means to bring comments and concerns directly to its members. The meeting was the first of its kind and focused primarily on future developments on campus.
A new resolution by last year’s administration changed the meeting format to appeal to a wider base of students, while still stressing senator involvement with their constituents.
“We found that often times when town halls were held at the college level, that many folks just didn’t attend,” SGA President Shaun Theriot-Smith said. “So instead, we hold these university-level town halls. In addition to placing a higher level of accountability on the senators to attend registered student organization meetings.”
The night began with Theriot-Smith presenting an overview of his administration’s approach to the current year before transitioning into a question and answer session.
A major issue asked about was plans for the beautification of campus grounds and surrounding buildings.
Senator Hunter Bodiford, a representative of the Hines College of Architecture, offered some insight into the University’s approach, referencing another senator’s efforts to look into the possibility of power-washing the education building’s exterior.
“They didn’t feel that the cost… outweigh(ed) the benefits,” Bodiford said. “They’re eventually going to tear that down… so I think they’re waiting for the dust to settle on the master plan before they do a full over-haul and bring the campus up to speed.”
Theriot-Smith added onto that, clarifying how efforts proceed in different scenarios.
“So much of the campus itself… it’s not all just one big unit, sometimes,” Theriot-Smith said. “Individual colleges will often retain autonomous control over how their college looks or their buildings or grounds look sometimes.”
Theriot-Smith did acknowledge that the University is looking to tackle the issue of improving the grounds on campus that they have control over.
“Overall, there is a beautification issue that they are trying to tackle at the University as a whole,” Theriot-Smith said. “A component of that is trying to take care of those issues as they build new buildings, (and) as they build new parts of the campus.”
Theriot-Smith referenced the master plan, which provides frameworks for the future of campus in many areas, including open space, transportation and development.
“Whenever we put a shovel down in the ground, we’re doing one shovel for three things or one shovel for two things,” Theriot-Smith said. “As we continue toward satisfying that master plan, it will hopefully begin to fall more into place.”
Part of the master plan calls for the deconstruction of numerous buildings across campus, including Farish Hall, the education building, as well as the deconstruction of the Quadrangle dormitories.
Some concerns were sighted about what will replace the Quads in terms of affordability and space.
Senator Elliot Kauffman from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences sighted that in regards to the construction process, UH would not be losing any spaces in overall housing capacity.
“We’re not losing beds,” Kauffman said. “We’re trying to build up the number of residents on campus for multiple reasons. For one, it’s better for the community. If they were to remove a residence hall, they’re definitely going to make sure they match the bed count in some way, shape or form.”
Theriot-Smith followed up, defining what housing options would replace the Quads.
“The only building that is being torn down, or slated to be torn down is the Quads because the cost of renovating is too high,” Theriot-Smith said. “What will replace it is two different types of housing. One will mimic closely the Cougar Place type of style, so it’ll be…more affordable. That tends to be more popular with underclassmen.”
“Also, a new style of town-homes, similar to Bayou Oaks, but a little bit different,” Theriot-Smith said. “More catering toward our international student population. Our chancellor really wants to focus on improving the amount of international housing opportunities on campus.”
Theriot-Smith did qualify that the master plan is still in development and should be considered as a work-in-progress, and while the deconstruction of the Quads is planned to move forward, other aspects are still up for discussion.
“Keep in mind that the master plan is in the process of being developed, it’s in the phase two development stage, but it’s not set in stone,” Theriot-Smith said. “They haven’t automatically decided that they’re going to destroy Farish Hall, it’s something that they’ve recommended with design aesthetic.”
Safe Space … was not even mentioned. How insensitive.
I was offended by that fact. *crawls into safe space* hahahaha
mThe American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and the brain initiative are the worst scams ever perpetrated on the American people. Former U. S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin Warns: Biochips Hazardous to Your Health: Warning, biochips may cause behavioral changes and high suicide rates.
State Attorney Generals are to revoke the licenses of doctors and dentists that implant chips in patients. Chip used illegally for GPS, tracking, organized crime, communication and torture. Virginia state police have been implanting citizens without their knowledge and consent for years and they are dying! Check out William and Mary’s site to see the torture enabled by the biochip and the Active Denial System. See Terrorism and Mental Health by Amin Gadit or A Note on Uberveillance by MG & Katina Michael or Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence by Springer or Mind Control,
Microchip Implants and Cybernetics. Check out the audio spotlight by Holosonics. The truth is the biochip works like a sim card. It received pulsed modulated laser beams and millimeter wave which it
converts into electromagnetic waves that your brain interprets into digital images and sound. It then takes what your brain sees and hears and converts electromagnetic waves into digital and acoustic waves that a computer translates into audio and video. In other words, it allows law enforcement to see what you see, hear what you hear and communicate directly with your brain.
“Former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) director and now Google Executive, Regina E. Dugan, has unveiled a super small, ingestible microchip that we can all be expected to swallow by 2017. “A means of authentication,” she calls it, also called an electronic tattoo, which takes
NSA spying to whole new levels. She talks of the ‘mechanical mismatch problem between machines and humans,’ and specifically targets 10 – 20 year olds in her rant about the wonderful qualities of this new technology that can stretch in the human body and still be functional. Hailed as a ‘critical shift for
research and medicine,’ these biochips would not only allow full access to insurance companies and government agencies to our pharmaceutical med-taking compliancy (or lack thereof), but also a host of other aspects of our lives which are truly none of their business, and certainly an extension of the
removal of our freedoms and rights.” Google News
The ARRA authorizes payments to the states in an effort to encourage Medicaid Providers to adopt and use “certified EHR technology” aka biochips. ARRA will match Medicaid $5 for every $1 a
state provides. Hospitals are paid $2 million to create “crisis stabilization wards” (Gitmo’s) where state police torture people – even unto death. They stopped my heart 90 times in 6 hours. Virginia Beach EMT’s were called to the scene. Mary E. Schloendorff, v. The Society of New York Hospital 105 N. E. 92, 93 (N. Y. 1914) Justice Cardozo states, “every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; and a surgeon who performs an operation
without his patient’s consent, commits an assault, for which he is liable in damages. (Pratt v Davis, 224 Ill. 300; Mohr v Williams, 95 Minn. 261.) This case precedent requires police to falsely arrest you or kidnap you and call you a mental health patient in order to force the implant on you. You can also be forced to have a biochip if you have an infectious disease – like Eboli or Aids. Coalition of Justice vs the City of Hampton, VA settled a case out of court for $500,000 and removal of the biochip. Torture is
punishable by $1,000 per day up to $2 million; Medical battery is worth $2.05 million. They told my family it was the brain initiative. I checked with the oversight board, and it is not! Mark Warner told me it was research with the Active Denial System by the College of William and Mary, the USAF, and state and local law enforcement. It is called IBEX and it is excruciating. I have had 3 surgeries at the site of the implant and need another. It causes cancer! I’ve been tortured for 8 years by Virginia law enforcement.