Student body president Bob Reish and student body vice president Grant Schmidt have quite the agenda to complete before their term ends April 1.
Over Winter Break, the two were at work, making lists of what they hope to accomplish in their remaining months in office, including more resolutions passed in the three student government bodies: Campus Life Council (CLC), Council of Representatives (COR) and Student Senate.
"If we get a good majority of those done we'll consider ourselves successful," Reish said.
Reish told The Observer COR members also compiled ideas for what their group will tackle this semester. He said most of the suggestions were not part of the duo's initial campaign.
Potential topics of discussion in COR in the upcoming weeks include a possible increase in the student activities fee to provide funding for a spring concert of lecture series and a reevaluation of the football ticket lottery policies, specifically home game ticket exchange.
Reish said the student body can expect progress updates from the numerous student government committees, as well as updates from the ad-hoc committee created by University President Fr. John Jenkins earlier in the year. Reish is the student representative on that committee.
Issues that will be raised in upcoming CLC meetings include the possible implementation of a Good Samaritan Policy at the University.
"We've gotten advice from other university presidents on the policy," Reish said.
The CLC will also work to establish clearer rules and guidelines for students living off campus, Reish said.
Discount booklets for businesses in the South Bend area, one of the pair's campaign platforms, have been ordered and should arrive this week, Schmidt said.
Student government ordered 800 discount booklets, but has yet to decide how to sell or distribute them to students, Schmidt said.
Reish said two more installments of the popular "Last Lecture" series are in the works, with one tentatively planned for February. The dates and speakers will be announced later in the semester.
Over Spring Break, student government plans to issue a second student census after the success of their survey sent out to students over Fall Break, Reish said. This time, however, questions will be more extensive, and the results will be left to the next administrators of student government.
An issue many students have expressed concern over, Reish said, is that of off-campus safety. A student government ad-hoc committee will address the topic in the coming semester, with hopes to clarify the legalities pertaining to off-campus living.
"A lot of students are often misinformed about the legalities about off-campus parties and off-campus living," Reish said.
Schmidt told The Observer their main goal is raising awareness about the laws of the state of Indiana and the City of South Bend, as well as University regulations outlined in "duLac: A Guide to Student Life."
Plans for the realization of one of Reish's projects - a colloquium with other college and university student governments - are in the works for a late March or early April event.
He said many other student governments have expressed interest in coming to Notre Dame to "forge a relationship" but Reish said he is still working with the specifics of the conference.
Some Reish-Schmidt campaign promises, like a complete online syllabus database, were too ambitious to complete in only one term.
"We hope to leave April 1 with a firm outline of the online syllabus database. We realized it would take much longer time than just one year to develop a sustainable, online database," Reish said.
Another initiative that will be left to their successors is plans for an International Showcase, that will most likely be put together next fall. The Showcase would offer student clubs the opportunity to perform together in one venue.
Schmidt told The Observer a number of groups have already committed to participating in the event.
