Meeting agenda items included (I) election of chair and secretary, (II) discussion of new housing and resulting parking related issues, (III) discussion of old business, and (IV) discussion of new business.

ATTENDANCE

Guests: Gary Chasteen, Chief of Police; Ed Klein, Director of Residence Life

Present Faculty/Staff Members: Barry Birckhead, Dean of Students; Terry Carter, HTC; Lance Crimm, ECET; Abdullah Faruque, CS

Present Student Members: Fola Adeleye, SGA President; Laura Payan, SGA Vice-President; Matt Levell, Student Representative, Todd Pish, Student Representative

The Student Life Committee was called to order by Barry Birckhead. Attendees introduced themselves, and the committee then addressed the first item on the agenda for the meeting, which was the election of a chair and secretary.

Birckhead nominated Lance Crimm for the position of chair. The nomination was second, called for discussion, and approved with no objections or abstentions.

Lance Crimm stated that his intention as the new chair with a new SGA president and vice-president will be to ensure a peaceful interaction among students, faculty and staff. He noted that the last two years were rather tumultuous, a very different atmosphere from when he was the chair three or four years ago.

Birckhead nominated Terry Carter for the position of secretary. The nomination was second, called for discussion, and approved with no objections or abstentions.

The committee discussed parking problems that will result from upcoming construction for new campus housing.

Parking lot 15 as listed on the campus map will be not be available once construction begins for new campus housing; elimination of this parking area will adversely affect student resident parking, especially those in Howell Hall.

Different options for reassigning parking spaces for residential students were discussed. After much deliberation, Chief Chasteen was charged with investigating how to arrange more parking spaces near the residential areas of campus to be zoned specifically for student residents.

A number of concerns were raised during the committee’s discussion about how to deal with the upcoming changes in student parking.

Chief Chasteen stated that increasing parking fines might be a possible deterrent for illegal parking in areas reserved for resident students. In the future, the committee may discuss such an increase.

Parking lot 26 was identified by a student representative as a potentially unsafe parking area. Chief Chasteen stated he was of aware of those concerns and was considering options to improve safety in that area.

Concerns were expressed about an increase in traffic activity. For example, how convenient would it be to access Cobb Parkway once the new campus housing project is complete?

A student representative wanted to know if Polytechnic Lane would be expanded to accommodate increased traffic flow that would result from new campus housing Chief Chasteen noted that such a decision would have to be made by Cobb County.

A student representative suggested looking into options to make SPSU more accessible for students who may desire to use public transportation. The committee decided that Dustin Rhue, Transportation Superintendent, would be contacted about this matter by Chief Chasteen.

Old Business Concerns: None

New Business Concerns:

The SGA president stated that he would like to discuss class cancellation for Student Week, which begins November 3. This will be further discussed during the next committee meeting.

Ed Klein began a discussion about possible changes to sections 3.I and 3.J in the Student Code of Conduct. He will send a detailed email message about proposed changes to committee members and this matter will be discussed during the next meeting.

The next Student Life Committee meeting will take place on Thursday, October 30 at 11 a.m. in Room G137.