On Monday, the Campus Services Committee met with Transportation Operations Supervisor Stephanie Hunter to discuss the unreliability of the campus circulator which the school provides to students. As the winter months approach, we wanted to ensure the circ will be more effective at being on time in order for students to rely on it to get to class.
Ms. Hunter agreed with us, and we mutually decided that making the buses have a 20 minute window to complete their route would be more preferable than the current 16 minute window if it means increased reliability. Due to South 40 and Highway 40 construction, the extra traffic has been slowing the drivers down and making the 16 minute marker impossible -- thus throwing them off for the rest of the day.
Ms. Hunter has agreed to restructure the hours as soon as possible to make the circulator work more efficiently and reliably for all students. Let us know if it's working once the changes go into place.
Thanks!
On Thursday, September 27th I met with Cheif Don Strom of WUPD on behalf of the Campus Services Committee of Senate. My main inquiry was about the chained gates that line the South Forty, and if those could perhaps be unchained if a card-reader was installed. The meeting went well. In a nut shell, those gates were chained as a safety precaution a few years ago. While making the decision to chain them, WUPD employed a variety of people (ResLife, students, etc.) and created a task force, which ultimately made the decision. Over the summer, there was another fence installed closing off Wallace Dr. (the street by Hurd House). The gate on this fence is card-accessible.
During this meeting, the topic of bike theft came up. Recently, there has been an increase of this type of theft on campus and by the off campus apartments. In almost all cases, the bikes that were stolen were locked with a cable lock. I encourage everyone with a bike to take it in to WUPD's office (located right next to Ursa's) and get it registered. In addition to registering it, they will supply you with a (inexpensive!) titanium U-lock. The cost of the lock will get put on your WashU bill, so you don't even need cash on hand.
Liz Jordan
Sophomore, C-Serve Committee
hey again!
i also met on friday with leslie heusted, the director of the duc. we're trying to proliferate the amount of student artwork in the building, and so we also met with some representatives from Art Council. Firstly, we hope to create art shows in the duc that would last for several weeks at a time, featuring all student artwork. also, we're trying to add artwork to furnish the career center, and are going to be approaching art students about this shortly.
let me know if you have any questions!
michael
hey guys!
on firday i met with martha tillman, the director of the s40 fitness center. she was really nice and helped clear up a lot of questions i had. the space that they currently occupy is only temporary, and the facility they're moving to next year is MUCH larger and sounds amazing. they had a problem with the tv cables but they just fixed it so now they have 3 tv's up. next year there are supposed to be tvs for every treadmill. they also have mats available for us to use, but they are not kept out at all times for lack of space. as far as weight machines/free weights go, she doesn't think they have room for any. she's considering putting a free weight rack in however, so she's looking into it.
feel free to contact me with any q's!
michael brodsky
Hi everyone. I wanted to give you a brief recap of the meeting the Campus Services Committee held today with Executive Vice Chancellor Steve Hoffner and District Manager of Bon Appetit Nadeem Siddiqui. I'll do bullet points to make life easier:
- They know the S40 is a challenge and an inconvenience to daily life for students.
- Changes are coming within the next two weeks to dining on campus.
- Customer counts will be used to restructure dining hours at all locations.
- The second half of S40 Dining will have 600 more seats and an expanded servery with more options.
- Dining Services is planning to test various new methods for making S40 Dining more efficient in the limited space (from menu changes to altering the way food is ordered -- stay tuned).
- They are against raising prices any higher.
- They are adjusting staff schedules to have more people working during heavy traffic times.
- Bear Mart has been experiencing a fair amount of theft, so surveillance cameras will be installed soon.
- Sustainable dishware will be on the 40 next year once the second phase of building is complete -- which will have the industrial dishwasher.
- Remember that using re-usable cups (Nalgenes, corn mugs, etc.) gets you a coffee discount!
- Webfood will be moving to the 40 soon -- hopefully before the end of first semester.
- Dining services is looking for input on the future of Subway on campus.
- They want students to begin diverting traffic from the DUC during lunch to the lower level of Mallinckrodt for seating -- this will become necessary come winter time when nobody wants to sit outside.
WHAT DID WE ASK FOR?
> Bringing: cranberries and quinoa to the DUC salad line, bringing back grilled chicken, bringing more hot Kosher meals to campus, and adding sour cream to the quesadilla line in Ursas.
>Consider creating a Crepe Night in Ursas for those who miss last year's crepes.
>Look into using biodegradable plastic water cups instead of regular plastic ones.
>Continue to work with us and be transparent about changes in dining hours and in how to facilitate more efficiency both on the 40 and in the DUC.
REMEMBER
*Please consider attending the forum in Mudd Multi-Purpose on Monday September 21 from 8-9:30pm about the future of the South 40.
*Please watch for an event in the near future where you will have the opportunity to hear directly from dining services and ask questions about dining on campus.
It was a great, successful, and productive meeting. They are really interested in making dining better on campus! Watch for more updates and I hope to see you at the events mentioned above!
Best,
Greg