While most college campuses have many different restaurants, dining halls and other options for students to purchase food, there is a growing number of college students that are experiencing food insecurity. In response to this need for healthy and easy-to-obtain food, SLU students have started the brand-new Billiken Bounty Student Food Pantry.

The pantry, located in the Busch Student Center, is a place for students to get healthy and easy-to-store food, as well as hygiene products. The only thing necessary is a SLU ID. The pantry was started by SLU students Madalyn Leakey and Samantha Kiss, in cooperation with Dean of Students Mona Hicks.

In a SLU Newslink interview, Kiss said that she wanted the pantry to be a “place of dignity” for SLU students, and somewhere they could see “friendly faces.”

Before starting the pantry, the students sent out a survey to the student body and found that around 20 percent of SLU’s student population are in a position where they could face food insecurity during their four years at SLU.

The survey also indicated that there were SLU students who went full days without a meal. This is not an uncommon finding, as there is a growing number of students on college campus across the country that are facing food insecurity according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

There are a number of reasons that students can face food insecurity, even at a place where there are many options for food: the rising cost of tuition and housing, costs of car payments and bills. Many non-traditional students such as those with families, often find it hard to make ends meet while studying at college, which makes it even harder to find meals for themselves.

SLU joins other schools in Missouri, including Mizzou, UMKC and UMSL, that have food pantries on their campuses as well. The pantries are funded and supported largely through the school communities.

Billiken Bounty was supported and kick-started through SLU community groups. Billiken Backers held a drive that donated over $5,000 and many departments throughout the University have donated as well.

One example is DPS, which has become a large supporter, and even sponsors a shelf at the pantry. SLU students also donate their time to help at the pantry, with around 20 students currently volunteering at Billiken Bounty.

“It’s nice that we can serve a community that’s close and with Billiken Bounty, we can’t be closer to our community of SLU students, our friends and peers,” Leakey said in SLU Newslink. “Everybody I have come across is so passionate about helping our students and improving our SLU community.”

Many SLU students think that Billiken Bounty is a long overdue and much-needed addition to the SLU campus. Sophomore Mary Beal said that she knows many students who are in need of a resource like Billiken Bounty.

“Many colleges do this [pantry program] already. It will help those students who are not able to go home for break,” said Beal.

Beal said that even though food insecurity is often a well-hidden problem at higher-cost schools like SLU, she knows of students who have been forced to refrain from participating in extracurriculars because the cost could keep them from having meals.

“In my short dabble of being interested in sororities and Greek life, many girls told me that they dropped [their sororities] because it became expensive and they were concerned about buying food,” said Beal.

More information about the pantry is available on SLU’s website and any student interested in possibly volunteering can contact billikenbounty@slu.edu.

According to SGA President Katlyn Martin, the plan she knew about was to covert sections of the old dining hall into a laundry, study, and performance space for students. However, when she checked in to the issue again in June, she found that it had been put on hold, because Career Resources had expressed a want for the space.

The MAGIS program, which has set up various initiatives around the school to try and streamline processes, started a group called the OE Initiative to look into how students use career resources. Its main objectives were laid out in 5 formal “areas of focus” which were mainly to analyze the current state of Career Resources and develop strategies. One of the things the initiative group planned to do was to “identify a new location for career services to heighten visibility.” Thus, this led them to the Gries dining hall.

However, this decision was not immediately popular with everyone for a few reasons. First, the group formed to analyze career resources did not include a student, as the MAGIS initiative groups usually do. Martin said this was a big issue for her from the beginning. This was just one of the ways that many feel this proposal to move career services ignored the SLU student body.

The initiative group took a poll of students and found that 61.29% percent of the students polled preferred Career Services to stay at its current location in the BSC.

As previously mentioned, even though this space was never promised to anyone, the original plan to renovate Gries dining hall would have provided study spaces for students and a performance space for the numerous groups on campus who are lacking practice space. According to Martin, performance groups serve over 500 SLU students on campus, and there is a huge lack of practice space for them on campus.  Martin says that having a spot in Gries would allow these groups the opportunity to work in an actual practice space instead of being forced to practice in places like the CGC or the Saint Louis Room, which are not necessarily correctly set up for these types of groups.

The space is also being used by Gries residents already for studying. Moving Career Resources to the dining hall would take away precious study space in a residence hall that doesn’t have much to start with. This proposed move has not been popular with the residents of Griesedieck Hall. SGA/RHA Senator Pooja Modi announced at SGA Senate on Wednesday that the Residence Hall Association had passed a resolution to oppose the move of career services with a vote of 20-0-0. She also said that RHA had spoken with residents of Gries Hall who said that “Gries was their home, and career services moving in would be like a business setting up in their living room.”

It’s not just the Gries residents that are upset with the proposed move. Commuter students and graduate students have also voiced concerns about moving career services to a less accessible and less centralized part of campus. The Gries dining hall is only accessible by going through the residence hall entrance which excludes commuter students and many graduate students are unfamiliar with campus and having career services in a central spot in the BSC keeps it convenient for grad students.

Martin also brought up the issue that there has not been a full report from the OE Initiative completed and laid out, yet they want to skip ahead to moving the physical location of Career Services.

“All of these [the OE Initiative’s] areas of focus say to analyze, identify, and develop,” said Martin. “You can’t figure out what to do without a report. Let’s look at what we have, what we want, and how we get there. I’ve done my homework and tried to understand the reasons behind this and I don’t think this will accomplish any of them.”

Martin expressed displeasure that the current students are not being listened to.

She said another of her issues with the move is that it doesn’t seem that the scope of the services that Career Services will improve with a move. She said that Career Services are already rolling out several new plans to improve service, and that they have been able to do that successfully in their current space. Moving Career Services will also move it away from the other similar services located in the BSC, making it less convenient for students to utilize all those services together.

It is important to note that the move is not final. Due to student pushback, the move has been halted. Martin says she appreciated the new willingness to listen to student concerns but wished that type of shared governance and student involvement had been there from the beginning.

This story is ongoing, as new SGA resolution is due to be introduced at next weeks Senate, and a decision on the space is yet to be made.

The Metrolink is an important mode of transportation on the Saint Louis University campus. With students being given free Metro passes and encouraged to get out and explore the city around us, the Metrolink is often a convenient, and for some students the only, way to get around St. Louis.

This August, the East-West Gateway’s board of directors approved a proposal to expand the Metrolink public transportation system. The new proposed line will be the first to run north and south through the city, from Grand to Chippewa with 16 new stations.

The current Metrolink lines extend from Shrewsbury and Lambert Airport and across the river into Illinois.

Some SLU students think that a new north/south line would be useful, especially for students.

“It would make public transit so much better. Because if you’re on the metro you can only go on the east/west corridor,” said SLU junior Seth Hardin. “Especially for SLU students it is such an economically smart way to get around.”

“I think having quicker access to areas that are north or south of the original line would be nice because it would make it faster and easier for people to access these areas,” said SLU sophomore Erica Mackin. “I would be more encouraged to go check these areas out if they were more accessible.”

However, the new line will not be cheap. The proposed cost of the north/south route is over $600 million and will take close to two years to complete.

Earlier this year, the Northside-Southside Consulting Team announced results of a study about potential users of a north/south route. The results showed that the route would be widely used, as a substantial amount of the potential users did not have access to a car.

Despite its potential benefits, however, some people are not sold on the idea due to its high costs, as well as the fact that the number of riders of the Metrolink has gone down around 20 percent in the last year. Causes of the decreased ridership are numerous. The system itself has a number of problems, including security concerns.

This past September, the Metro Public Safety Department experienced radio issues, which rendered them incapable of communicating with the city and county police departments. St Louis County Council voted to withhold a large chunk funding from the Metro security. Until they are convinced that their security concerns are being addressed.

Due to all the issues with the Metrolink system, many SLU students are not convinced that the new, expensive station is a good idea at present, or that it is even needed at all.

“With the current Metro system, most of the main city hotspots are covered, like the Delmar Loop, Forest Park and Busch Stadium. If someone needs to get to a location not covered by the MetroLink, odds are a Metro bus can take you there right from the Metro stop,” said SLU sophomore Caleb Vetter. “Adding such an expensive addition just to include a few extra stops would not be worth it. I don’t think the decline in current revenue is due to the lack of stops, but caused by the problems with the current system that could be improved on.”

Although students have varying opinions on the $600 million MetroLink addition, the decision will remain in the hands of Missouri politicians.

One of the defining features of SLU’s campus is its beautiful trees. Many students lay underneath the trees for shade, take pictures by them for Instagram, of course breathe in the air they provide for us and enjoy them every day on campus, especially in the spring when the weather is nice.

However, very few students recognize the work and dedication that goes into maintaining SLU’s beautiful trees, and the effort that it takes to make sure that new trees are planted for SLU students to enjoy for years to come. Saint Louis University is a recognized “Tree Campus USA.” Tree Campus USA is a program started and run by the Arbor Day Foundation. The program promotes the welfare of campus trees, and education to the campus and surrounding community about the importance of trees. Ground Supervisor Jim Anthony at SLU has been working on SLU’s Tree Campus USA program since it started in 2012. “It is to bring awareness to trees and good stewardship on the properties,” said Anthony.

To become a Tree Campus, a school must apply and meet five different requirements.

The first requirement is that the school must have a Campus Tree Advisory Committee. Anthony says that SLU’s committee is made up of faculty, staff and students. The team meets and discusses their second requirement, their Tree Care Plan. “[The Tree Care Plan includes] how to prune, when to plant, where to plant [and] how to plant,” said Anthony. The plan must include future goals for the teams, and all of the policies that the teams put in place for their tree-planting mission.

The campus is required to dedicate annual expenditures to the program, which is the third requirement. This money is put toward the cost of trees, labor and other aspects of the tree-planting program.

The fourth requirement to be a Tree Campus is some form of recognition for Arbor Day. Every year the SLU team has an Arbor Day Event on campus, where they plant trees and educate others about the benefits of trees.

The fifth and final requirement for Tree Campuses is a Service Learning Project. This is a part of the program in which the SLU team is very dedicated. Anthony said that the SLU team has been doing service projects for the last five years.

“We typically go to high schools and donate trees to the school, talk to the kids about trees and help them plant them,” said Anthony. The team has helped local high schools in the St. Louis area and schools out in the state, such as one in Louisiana, Missouri. Anthony said that the team not only helps plant trees but protects them as well.

Whenever new buildings are built on campus, the team works with the contractors and construction companies to make sure that trees in the area will be protected. There’s no doubt that this program has helped SLU’s campus to be a more beautiful and healthier area. “It’s all about maintaining [trees] and being good stewards of the area,” said Anthony.

According to Anthony, in one year, the team planted 160 trees alone. However, over 250 have become part of SLU’s campus within a six-year period. Universities that fall under the certified “Tree Campus USA” have shown to reduce the amount of energy that the campuses need to generate. Green spaces also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which, in turn, leads to the decline of co-pollutants circulating the air students breathe.

On April 11, President Trump signed into law the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or “FOSTA.” This bill was introduced by Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner, and passed the House in February, and passed in the Senate with a vote of 97-2.

The law’s intent is to hold websites such as Backpage, a website that was recently found guilty of being involved in creating the ads that aided sexual trafficking on its website, accountable for the sex-trafficking ads that are posted online. Websites like these are often the main places where victims are trafficked, through the use of online ads. The law will make it easier for victims and attorneys to file suits against the websites themselves. In the wake of the signing, sites such as these have begun to take down their classified ad sections, and have cut down on accepting advertisements relating to sexual content.

The bill had widespread bipartisan support, as shown by its passing with a huge margin. However, it is not without controversy.

Advocates for sex workers have spoken out against the bill, saying that it will create a more unstable and unsafe environment for sex workers. They argue that without sites such as Backpage or Craigslist, it is harder for sex workers to screen customers, and to safely post ads, instead having to resort to older, more dangerous methods of work. They also believe that it will make it harder for United States law enforcement to track those involved in sex trafficking. In an interview with the New York Times, Jean Bruggeman, executive director of an anti-trafficking advocate coalition, said, “Shutting down every service provider and website will not end sex trafficking. What it will do is push traffickers to overseas websites that are beyond the reach of law enforcement, making it harder to prosecute them.”

Other arguments against this bill is that it is a step backwards for internet freedom. Opponents of the bill, including one of the two senators that voted against it, said that the bill infringed on the protections that websites were given under the Communications Decency Act. Before FOSTA was signed into law, users only, not the websites themselves, were held accountable for the things they posted. This allowed websites to claim ignorance of any illegal or harmful posts made on its website. However, regardless of the differing opinions, it seems that the current legislative body in Washington sees this as a beneficial bill. Ohio Senator Rob Portman was one of the main Senate sponsors of the bill.

“This is a big victory for trafficking victims and survivors,” Portman said; “who for too long have been denied the opportunity to get the justice they deserve.”

The authors of the bill have spoken out against the criticism, saying that this bill was drafted with care and careful investigation, and is the best option to fight the current issue of sex trafficking in the country. Wagner herself said that the bill was guided by members of the Justice Department and from prosecutors. In response to the worries that innocent website providers would be negatively affected, she said that the law should not affect those that are not knowingly violating criminal laws.

President of the College Democrats and SGA Senator Robbie Lasky, said that he believes that the bill will have a positive impact, and that hopefully the arguments against the bill will remain hypothetical.

“While I understand there is definitely concern, and that we need to have protections in place for sex workers, if my knowledge of the bill is correct, then this bill just holds websites accountable for advertisements,” said Lasky. “I think with the potential to prevent the advertising of sex trafficking and non-consensual sexual acts, we’re talking about saving lives.”

With polarization plaguing the government, it is uncommon to see something have such widespread support from both sides, and seems like a positive direction for our leaders to move in.

“I think that it is good in general that we have such widespread unanimous agreement that we need to stand together against things like this,” said Lasky. “I think that this is a pretty common-sense bill, and I think it is good that people are sticking together and saying this is something we want to work on and something we have the power to fight against.”

Freshman Lyndsey Barillier, a member of the Diversity and Global Citizenship learning community, agreed, saying “It’s a great bill that obviously has strong bipartisan ties.”

Do you like dining out? Do you like to help those in need? A St. Louis-based startup is helping individuals find great restaurants while feeding the hungry in our community. GiftAMeal is a mobile app that gives a meal to someone in need through Operation Food Search each time a user takes a photo at a partner restaurant. The app is partnered with over 80 restaurants in the St. Louis area, and with numerous restaurants around the country in Chicago and Detroit.

The service was started by Washington University graduate Andrew Glantz and his business partner, Dartmouth student Aidan Folbe, when they sought to create a non-profit with a purpose and a solution to the struggles restaurants face engaging customers.

I found out about the GiftAMeal app after Glantz came to speak to our SLU chapter of the Alpha Kappa Psi professional fraternity. He was extremely passionate about the mission of the app, and it was clear that the team behind this business had the betterment of the community at the forefront of their vision. I immediately downloaded the app, and I use it every chance I get. There are a lot of restaurants close to SLU that participate in GiftAMeal, including The Fountain on Locust, Urban Chestnut Brewing Co., Triumph Grill, BaiKu Sushi Lounge and Narwhal’s Crafted Urban Ice.

It is extremely easy to use, and it is a win-win-win for everyone involved. This app helps local food shelters to provide meals to people who desperately need them. On the business side, joining GiftAMeal is fantastic PR for local St. Louis restaurants. For the user, it is an awesome way to give back at no cost. It allows me to feel engaged with the community by trying the local restaurants that are partnered with the app here in St. Louis and with new restaurants signing up and being added to the app every day—there is never a shortage of good food to try.

GiftAMeal gives users the opportunity to help others with just a click of a button. Service is a huge part of our mission here at SLU, and this effortless way to help others fits seamlessly into everyone’s schedule. It is the easiest way to donate a meal, and it also allows you to eat amazing food and hang out with your friends around St. Louis. Between downloading games and chat services, it takes up very little space on a smartphone, and it always makes me feel great when I use the app.

GiftAMeal continues to grow and gain local and national attention. This year, the app reached the very important milestone of donating over 100,000 meals to people in need in the local community, and they are hoping to donate over 250,000 by the end of this year. Going out to eat is something that most of us love to do, and if we can help others while enjoying a taco, well, why wouldn’t we?

ATLAS Week is here at SLU, and students, faculty and organizations are gearing up for the numerous events that will be happening around campus.

ATLAS Week was started in 2001 in order to highlight the international aspects of SLU’s mission and curriculum and to shed light on many challenges and issues that face communities all over the world. Departments across campus and many student groups hold events to foster discussion about international issues and to educate students on their role as a global citizen. Michelle Lorenzini, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at SLU and director of Atlas Week, sees this as an opportunity for students to start seeing themselves as active participants in changing their world for the better. She tells the Unews, “I hope students will be inspired to effect change and be empowered by seeing other students who are already doing it.”

The entire campus will be getting involved. There are photo and art exhibitions in the CGC, and an exhibit in Pius Library, highlighting international cultures and issues that ATLAS Week will focus on. Grand Dining Hall will be joining in on the fun with Aramark International Cuisine week, co-sponsored by SGA. Every day during ATLAS Week, a different menu will be available in the dining hall, spotlighting different countries and cultures each day.

There will also be many speakers here at SLU during ATLAS Week. This year, the keynote speakers for ATLAS week are Milton Ochieng, M.D., and Fred Ochieng. M.D. These accomplished brothers from Kenya attended Dartmouth College and after graduating from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, began working on a mission to build a clinic in their home village of Lwala, Kenya. They accomplished this goal in 2007, and the Lwala Community Hospital has been ranked as the highest performing health facility in western Kenya. They have been given numerous honors across the country and have been featured in countless media outlets for their work. Currently, Fred is a cardiology fellow at Saint Louis University, and Milton is a gastroenterologist with the BJC Medical Group at Progress West Hospital in St. Charles, Missouri. They will be speaking about their incredible work and story on Thursday, April 12.

Along with the keynote speakers, there will be many events for students to take advantage of. One of them is the Coffee and Conversation Series sponsored by Political Round Table. These events are opportunities to hear from faculty members here at SLU and discuss issues such as health and crime in St. Louis, immigration and international politics. They will be held on April 10 and April 12 in the CGC.

Other events during this busy week include an Interfaith Prayer Service at College Church; Stylin’ around the World: The Awakening of Cultures through Fashion; a showing of the award-winning documentary about the Ochieng brothers’ work, “Honoring a Father’s Dream: Sons of Lwala;” and other discussions and seminars.

ATLAS Week’s main goal is to educate students on the issues the global community faces and how to get involved in being a responsible global citizen. Each day, there are several seminars, discussions and interactive exhibits. One such experience is “Outcast: Life as Refugee,” being held each day in the BSC. This is an interactive exhibit sponsored by SLU Amnesty International, Muslim Student Association, Middle Eastern Student Association, OneWorld and CAIR-STL. During the exhibit, students will face actors and simulations of the experiences refugees face during a crisis.

Among the other educational events include seminars on Public Health in West Virginia, Global Health Politics, a workshop on Human Trafficking, Hijab Awareness Day Tabling by the Muslim Student Association, ACLU Legal Observer Training and The Experiences of Saudi Students at SLU, just to name a small sampling of the countless events going on all week.

Along with the educational discussions and seminars, there will also be showings of documentaries and films that highlight international issues and events and some that will hit very close to home for SLU Students, such as “Men in the Arena” which tells the story of Saadiq Mohammed, a Saint Louis University soccer player and his friend Sa’ad Xussien, who were able to overcome their struggles in their home country of Somalia to come to the United States.

ATLAS Week’s annual culminating event is the Billiken World Festival. The Festival will feature performances of different cultural music and dance as well as booths for education and service, among other things. There were also be diverse food options representing different cultures. The Festival kicks off with the Parade of Nations, where SLU students carry flags from around the world down West Pine.

The full calendar of ATLAS Week events is available online at https://www.slu.edu/atlas-week-home and is posted around campus on the red ATLAS Week posters. There is a discussion, film, activity and educational opportunity for everyone at SLU during ATLAS Week, and it would be a shame to miss the incredible opportunities for learning and growth that will be available next week.

This weekend, the first March for Our Lives will be happening in St. Louis and in various cities across the nation. The March for Our Lives is a march that has been organized in response to the frequent mass school shootings in the US and was organized specifically in response to one of the most recent school shootings at Stoneman-Douglas school in Parkland, Florida.

The United States is unfortunately no stranger to gun violence. For decades, citizens have been witness to mass shootings and tragedies, many of these happening in our schools. In fact, they happen so often that it seemed that most people had become quite desensitized to them. The issue of gun control was a platform point for politicians and not much more. When students were gunned down in their classrooms, the nation would watch the news, pray for their families and forget as soon as the next news cycle took over. Therefore, the nation was stunned after one of the latest mass shootings, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Seventeen people were murdered at Stoneman Douglas in a tragic occurrence that those living in the United States have faced more than once in recent years. However, what came next was an unprecedented response to a school shooting, which has forced citizens on both sides of the political aisle to take a look at their beliefs, the safety of our nation’s children and what it truly looks like to be an active engaged American.

The response from the surviving students in Parkland has turned into a nationwide movement, the March for Our Lives. After the shooting, students from Stoneman Douglas almost immediately began calling for change. They appeared on news channels, in articles in every major newspaper, and sparked conversation all over social media, and in homes across the country. The students had a major unifying message. They believe that, while the shooter is ultimately responsible for this horrible crime, the complacency and inaction of our nation’s government has allowed gun culture to reach a dangerous boiling point. Their message culminates in the March for Our Lives, taking place in Washington, D.C. and across the nation.

The march is organized by the surviving students of the Parkland shooting and calls for legislative action on the topic of gun control. On the March for Our Lives website, there is a petition that calls for three specific actions by elected officials:

1. Passing a law to ban the sale of assault weapons like the ones used in Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Aurora, Sandy Hook and, most recently, to kill 17 innocent people and injure more than a dozen others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
2. Prohibiting the sale of high-capacity magazines such as the ones the shooter at our school—and so many other recent mass shootings used.
3. Closing the loophole in our background check law that allows dangerous people who shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms to slip through the cracks and buy guns online or at gun shows.

Here in St. Louis, the march will begin at Union Station at 10 a.m. and continue down Market Street to the Gateway Arch. Students from the St. Louis area were heavily involved in the planning of the march. Organizers of the St. Louis march said, “This movement is for every life lost — in places of worship, workplaces, shopping malls and in our neighborhoods. Everywhere and anywhere. Therefore, we are marching to demand ‘that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.’”

There will be many speakers at the St. Louis march as well, including State Representative Bruce Franks Jr. Franks himself has had experience with gun violence.

Here at SLU, many students are preparing to attend the March for Our Lives on Saturday. On Wednesday, the SLU College Democrats held a sign-making event and plan on taking a group to the march.

SLU College Democrats President Robert Lasky spoke about the importance of showing up for the march, saying, “Marches are great ways to show public opinion on a certain issue, and public opinion has a very long track record of swaying the opinion of public officials. The more people that show up the louder voice we have together, and that’s important, because this is about people’s lives.”

In the weeks leading up to the SGA elections this year, it was not uncommon for a particular SGA campaign group to speak at a club or organization meeting. This group was Team Martin, a group of students campaigning for executive board roles in the Student Government Association. The team was named after and led by current VP of Finance Katlyn Martin, who won the election to be the next SGA president.

Martin has been a part of SGA since the beginning of her freshman year at SLU, after running for and winning a senate position. Over her last three years, she has held various roles in SGA, including a first-year senator, senator for the College of Arts and Sciences, Co-Chair of Student Outreach, and the Vice President of Finance, as well as sitting on several SGA committees. Martin said that the decision to run for president in her final year was a natural one.

“I saw that we have a need for change in SGA, especially with communication. I felt that the skills that I bring to the table was one of the reasons I felt that I wanted to run. I feel that I can create a really good change on campus and in SGA,” said Martin. “Also I like SGA, so the decision to find more ways to get involved wasn’t a hard one.”

Martin made the decision this year to run with a team of students, as opposed to running alone. She said that while her original plan was to run by herself, after speaking to the students who would eventually make up the team, it became apparent that a lot of the issues that were important to her overlapped with issues that other candidates felt passionate about as well. She said that forming the team took about two months to come together to decide their game plan.

Martin, who presented at 62 CSO meetings, or campaign stops, ran on a number of key platform points. The first main point was the accessibility of scholarships, especially for upperclassmen. Martin says that she wants to make sure all available scholarships are uploaded online and are made available to each student eligible for them.

The next point was strong communication between food, facilities and SGA.

“We really want to make sure that housing and Residence Life knows what we want fixed,” said Martin. “I’ve noticed a big disconnect between what we want and what gets fixed. Some people might not want new paint but want their pipes fixed.”

On the food side, SLU’s contract with Aramark will be renegotiated in the next year, and Martin says that she is focused on making sure SLU gets the best quality food out of the contract. She also says one of her main focuses is making sure that the current Aramark employees that are part of the SLU community get to maintain their jobs, no matter what contract the University chooses to pursue.

The third point of Martin’s campaign is, to use her words, “Chipping away at the SLU Bubble.” She wants to make sure that the SGA website and SGA itself is a resource to make sure that students find ways to explore and take advantage of the benefits of living in St. Louis.

“We live in such a great city,” said Martin. “There are all these really cool places that we could be exploring and hanging out at, and many people don’t know where to start looking.”

Martin also hopes to make SGA more accessible and visible to all members of the SLU community.

“One of the things I want to add is a quarterly report of what’s going on. A condensed version of what all has been going on.” said Martin, “I feel like students don’t know where they can go to access to information. I want to be able to direct them to it.”

Martin also says she wants to work on SGA senator development. She says that many senators are just thrown into their jobs without guidance on what to do or how to do it. She hopes to make sure that senators are clear on what they should be doing and how to develop the skills and tools they need to succeed. Martin hopes to spend time at the very beginning of next semester by working with senators on how best to engage their constituents and their jobs in SGA.

As well as winning her position, Martin said that this year’s election was a win for her in another way.

“This year we had the highest voter turnout we’ve ever had since we’ve had electronic records,” said Martin. “For me, if we had the highest voter turnout ever and we [the team] had lost, it still would have been a win for me.”

Martin says that this year’s election process felt very successful and more engaging than before. She felt that the election commission did a good job, and having the candidate debates streamed was a good move in engaging student voters.

Even during the excitement of the election, her main focus was still doing her job as the VP of Finance. This year, her role was more important than ever, in light of the push to raise the student activity fee. SGA has had increasing trouble funding all of the current CSOs, and the campaign to raise the student activity fee was a huge effort to make sure that all current and new CSOs would have the support they needed from SGA. Martin, as the VP of Finance, was on the front lines of this campaign doing a lot of the work.

“This increase will offset our new groups for sure,” said Martin. “The next hope is to use what we have left over from funding new groups to try and fully fund as much as we can [to] other events such as showcases and conferences for CSOs. We want to make sure that everyone has a shot if we have the ability to fund something.”

Martin and her team, which now makes up the SGA Executive Board, will be transitioning into their roles during the next few months before they assume the positions in May. Martin says that if she could give one message to all the students of SLU, it would be a message of thanks.

“Thank you. This is an incredible opportunity for many reasons.  I’m very excited, we have a great team,” said Martin. “We are ready, and we really want to make our University a better place.”

Discussion about Title IX and sexual misconduct and assault has become more prevalent throughout the SLU community after an incident last fall in which four student athletes were accused of sexual assault. On Feb. 6, conversation on the topic was rekindled on campus and social media by the voluntary withdrawal from SLU by Ty Graves, one of several basketball players who have not been permitted to play or wear the team uniform this season. The University has not confirmed any connection between the initial incident and the benched players.

After the reported assault last September, the Saint Louis University Title IX office sent out an email asking students to complete a Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey. The survey, which was optional and anonymous, was to be used to help the Title IX office gain a better understanding of the experiences SLU students were having on campus pertaining to sexual assault.

Kim Sahr, Equity Officer at the Title IX office, said “Most schools do surveying in order to gain feedback about what students are experiencing. The survey asks questions about perceptions about sexual assault, confusion and personal experience and is completely anonymous and voluntary.”

Unfortunately, a group of SLU students posted information about the survey onto a public forum where others who were not enrolled at SLU could share their own information. The Title IX office considered this a violation of security and that it would now be impossible to tell what answers were actually from SLU students. Because of this, the office felt that they were unable to use the answers from the survey and promptly took the survey down, rendering it useless.

While this particular try didn’t work, the Title IX office says that they will be attempting to put out another survey in the future. This is an important piece of news, especially in the wake of recent situations of alleged sexual assault on SLU’s campus.

This survey was the Saint Louis University’s Title IX office’s first attempt at something of this nature. Sahr says that this kind of tactic to gain information is a widely used but still new practice on college campuses. She says that the survey will help gain a more accurate picture of what is going on in the SLU community.

“We get information when people report things here, but we really have anecdotal information,” said Sahr. “This survey could possibly touch someone who has never reported anything.”  

The overall plan for the survey was to help the Title IX office decide how to best educate SLU students about sexual assault and its prevention. Sahr said the results of the survey would be used to shape programming and to tailor outreach and training to the community in ways that were specific to SLU.

“For example, if we got the results back from the survey that said stalking was a major issue on campus, we would then ramp up programming around that particular topic,” Sahr said.

The office plans on putting out a similar survey when they feel the time is right. Sahr says that it is important that the survey is posted during a time of the school year when every student is able to complete the survey thoughtfully. For example, finals week would not be a good time, nor would the first two weeks of campus when first-year students do not have a clear image of what life on campus is like, according to Sahr.

Sahr said that the current challenge facing the office in regards to the survey is now figuring out how to protect the information and the survey so that only SLU students are able to access it.

A survey such as this one would be able to provide very important and relevant information to the Title IX office, especially in light of recent events here at SLU. Local news outlets continue to follow the investigation into a number of Saint Louis University athletes, and quickly make assumptions when players suddenly choose to leave SLU. With a situation like this one being widely discussed and covered by the media, many students might be frustrated or confused at the process of a Title IX investigation. Surveys like this one could help gauge the public knowledge and feeling around situations like this. Even without the survey, however, Sahr says that students are always encouraged to come to the Title IX office and ask questions if they are confused or concerned.

“We have a thorough policy, but it is long and can be a lot to sift through,” said Sahr. “We are here if somebody wants to talk through that process.”

Sahr says that the Title IX office continues to work for the best interests of students and believes that this survey is just one more way they can do that more accurately.

“We are always looking for ways to make sure we are serving the community right and make sure our services are right for the SLU Community,” Sahr said. “Information is power. We want to get the knowledge to students. If something happens, we want people to know where to get help.”