The Student Government Association (SGA) discussed the Le Mans Hall basement renovation and the Saint Mary's Readership Program at Wednesday's meeting.
Student body president Rachael Chesley started the meeting by talking about a meeting with the designer who will be leading the project to renovate Le Mans Hall.
"We presented her with all the ideas we talked about last week," Chesley said. "There are a lot of possibilities that can be done down there."
Different ideas have included a television area, pool table and ping-pong table. Chesley said the basement would be split into eight zones, and SGA's next steps would be to brainstorm what should go in those zones and to choose a theme color for the area.
"We want it to be a really fun area that is engaging and interactive," Chesley said.
SGA will create a committee to discuss what should be done in Le Mans and they are trying to adhere to a particular time frame, she said. Chesley said they hope to have the project completed when students return from Spring Break. To meet that deadline, SGA will finalize the ideas at the beginning of spring semester.
"First, we want to have the color we want down there," Chesley said. "Then, after the color we pick the finish that we want down there. It's a huge room so it all has to kind of connect still and off of that we have to think of furniture."
In addition to the discussion of the basement renovations, the Board also spent time reviewing the campus' readership program, which SGA sponsors to supply students with free copies of USA Today, The New York Times and The South Bend Tribune.
"We want to bring awareness to the program because it is a great thing we have here on campus so we looked at what other colleges are doing," Chesley said.
The Board discussed hosting "coffee-house style" meetings with professors at Dalloway's — the campus clubhouse — and having the professor pick an article and present it to students. Chesley said students know about the free access to newspapers on campus, but they don't always realize SGA sponsors it.
The Board also talked about giving out prizes to students are "caught reading." Students seen reading the newspaper could be given prizes by members of SGA, Chesley said.
