The Student Senate breezed through a 20-minute meeting Wednesday as committee chairs briefly updated senators on the progress of their initiatives.
Several committees did not meet at all this week due to mid-term exams. Residence Life committee chair Pat Knapp told senators he met with University architect Greg Hakanen regarding the University's plans for a "College Town" just south of Notre Dame's campus.
Last April, student body president Lizzi Shappell, former student body president Dave Baron, former Residence Life committee chair Mark Seiler and then-senior Brett Hummel helped create a student survey to gauge what type of development students would like to see on the land between Angela Boulevard and Napoleon Boulevard.
Knapp said they received about 40 percent of the surveys back last spring. Now, University officials are asking Knapp to help distribute additional surveys, this time for faculty and staff as well as the residents of the South Bend community.
"We want to determine the needs and preferences of South Bend residents so we can align their interests with those of the students," Knapp said.
In other Senate news:
uSenior Lindsay Hero spoke to senators about "Gulu Walk Day," an event to raise awareness about Gulu in northern Uganda, where Hero said about 50,000 children are forced to walk up to 10 kilometers everyday to avoid being abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army.
The event is jointly coordinated by Indiana University South Bend and Notre Dame. Hero told senators they would receive e-mails with more information in the coming days. She asked them to forward that information on to their constituents.
uUniversity Affairs committee chair Aly Baumgartner said the second student-alumni reception on Oct. 6 "did not go as well as the first one," which was on Sept. 29. But she plans to make improvements to ensure the third and final reception has a strong turnout.
