 "Photo: Photo Submitted By Alan Thompson")
The Augustana Student Association (ASA) Senate attempted to identify student life and other on-campus issues by hosting its first dorm forum this week.
According to ASA President senior Maggie Van Bockern, the idea for dorm forums arose from last year's campaign. "Not many students know what ASA is," Van Bockern said.
The ASA Web site states, "The Augustana Student Association is the voice of the student body. ASA membership includes all full- and part-time students at the college."
Van Bockern said the ASA Senate wants to increase interaction between students and senators so senators know more about students' concerns, in addition to revamping the ASA Constitution.
And so Van Bockern, ASA Vice President senior Phil Mulder, freshmen ASA senators and students gathered on three couches and a black bench in the main lobby of Bergsaker Hall on Monday night.
Although few students came to the forum—planned by freshmen senators Adam Jorde, Morgan McAlpin, Joe Meader and Kelly Wong—the senators persevered by asking one simple question of students exiting and entering the lobby of Bergsaker: "What would you like to see changed on this campus?"
According to freshman senator Kelly Wong, the informal "come and go" format of the forum was effective.
"I think it worked out really well in the lobby," Wong said. "We were able to pull anybody who walked by and just ask them their opinion."
Van Bockern let the senators plan and conduct the meeting, and it's likely that future dorm forums will differ from past forums, she said.
Dean of students and ASA adviser Jim Bies said that the dorm forums will help increase conversations between students and senators.
"Senators are representing a constituency that is a result of numerous conversations so when [senators] share opinions, it's a widely shared opinion."
However, nearly half of the questioned students didn't know what could be changed or didn't think anything should be changed.
"It's because we love Augustana," freshman Alex Sproul said.
However, there were many problems that were posed to the senators.
For example, freshman Katie Hjerpe said that two of Bergsaker's drying machines are broken, resulting in busy lines, among other problems.
Hjerpe proposed a simple step that students can take when laundry is still in the washer or dryer to prevent clothes from being thrown on the table or floor.
"Just put your hamper in front of the machine you're using," Hjerpe said.
Freshmen addressed other Bergsaker dorm life issues, such as the lighting in the lobby's brick inlets, bad room window curtains and bathroom issues—ranging from the quality of the foam soap in women's bathrooms to the broken hand dryer in the fourth floor men's bathroom.
The most mentioned issue was wireless Internet, currently only available in the lobby of Bergsaker. Students have to get a router if they want wireless in their room, and wireless also isn't accessible in the dayrooms.
While the library has wireless, some students, like freshman Megan Johnson, think that wireless elsewhere on campus would provide more variety for study spots.
"Everyone has their laptop, and it's nice to switch it up to a different environment other that the quiet library," Johnson said.
According to Wong, the dorm forum was effective because she learned what issues were impacting students the most.
"Though they didn't always affect me personally, these are things that affect people every day and every week," Wong said.
Bies agreed, saying that the dorm forums help both the ASA Senate and himself learn about student issues.
"Until you have an activity like the dorm forums, you really don't know what those topics are," Bies said.
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