At the final Council of Representatives (COR) run by the current student government administration Monday night on the second floor of LaFortune, members discussed the year's operations and approved a number of key council members for next year's term.
The meeting focused on transition, as COR members evaluated this year's progress and planned for the student government turnover April 1.
Student body president Dave Baron thanked council members for their time and effort, and cited the difference COR has made this year in student government, particularly in the area of community relations.
He then opened the floor to suggestions as to how the Baron administration could have done a better job running student government.
Representatives praised the administration's progress and offered suggestions to improve relations with the entire student body in the face of increasing apathy. Topics of discussion included ideas for improved campus stall notes, a general student homepage with links to all aspects of student government and programming and more open student government meetings in order to increase student input.
President-elect Lizzi Shappell said increasing student participation by holding public student government meetings is a central part of her platform. She said students could expect to see this in the upcoming year.
The group made administrative progress by approving nominees and discussing their plans for the upcoming administration. Patrick Vassel, confirmed as Student Union Board (SUB) Manager, plans to increase the participation of the hall representatives who are a relatively recent addition to SUB.
Beth Melia, Agus Galmarini and BethAnn Viscelgia were confirmed as co-director of programming, director of operations and director of publicity, respectively, for SUB executive board 2006-2007.
In a prepared statement, Judicial Council president-elect Liz Kozlow said she intends to improve the peer advocacy program and initiate a get-out-the-vote campaign. Campus voter participation is approximately 50 percent, she said, and she proposed a number of initiatives with the goal of 67-percent participation in the next election.
Chris Harris was approved as an academic delegate. He said he plans to continue work on teacher course evaluations. Harris said the committee has worked with the administration for a portion of the evaluations to be available for all Notre Dame students to view.
"Basically, there will be about six multiple choice questions sometime in the next academic year added to the teacher course evaluations," Harris said. "All students will be able to access the results online."
In addition, Catherine Martinez was confirmed as Student Union Secretary, and Chris Mueller and Kadeja Gaines will be assistant Student Union Treasurers for the upcoming year.
