Presidential Perspectives

Hey Carnegie Mellon,

Happy post-Carnival! As we roll out of the cold and into the warm weather, we see that the school year is coming to a close. For some, namely seniors, this probably comes a little too early. For all others, you’re probably looking forward to an awesome internship or some time on the beach, so you can’t wait.

I want to spend my text quota this week talking about Adi and my term’s actual accomplishments this year, as that’s what I did this past week in my presentation to the Board of Trustees.

Adi and I effectively had two goals this year. The first was the promise of “practical change,” and we accomplished some great things in this arena. Visible changes include a revamping of the library with new power plugs, Microsoft Office on all first-floor library computers, new scanners, a renewal of the wireless ports, and, with the help of the Middle States Commission, you’ll soon have a 24-hour library for five days a week. We also helped to incorporate institutional memory into the way student leaders record their organizations’ histories. The new digital solution should be inccorporated into OrgTracker next year. We also worked on the Campus Rec Program started by our predecessors, Karl and Andrea, helping it take flight as a more secure initiative by teaming up with SDC. Finally, we took on the task of completely reforming the way elections are done on this campus in order to begin restoring our collective confidence in student government as a capable vehicle for effective leadership.

Our second goal was slightly less tangible. Called a “connected campus,” its initiatives were based around increasing the effectiveness of communication across campus. Our first foray into the endeavor was the inaugural Presidents’ Dinner Forum, where we invited leaders from student organizations and members of the faculty and administration to partake in a casual, point-driven discussion that introduced everyone to each other. Secondly, with the help of incoming President and current Senate chair, Jared Itkowitz, Adi formed and co-chaired the Student Government Visibility Committee. The committee was established to look into non-traditional methods for conveying the student government’s relevance to you, the students.

As we said when we were campaigning, the CMU 5 was not an end-all scenario. It was a start. We certainly started, and we feel confident that — with your help — our successors will seize the opportunities ahead.