Illinois State Senate Committee on University Student Life met Aug. 27.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
Present: Chair Rummana Alam, Caitlin Clarke, Charles Fogelman, Sarah Hatlestad, Kevin Meier, Erin Motley, Brendan Recka
Ex officio: Stephen Bryan, Martin McFarlane, Danita Brown Young, Enoma Egiebor, Dana Johnson, Megan Tucker Zwilling
Absent: Tim Flanagin, Kathy Martensen (ex officio),
I. CALL TO ORDER
A regular meeting of the Senate Committee on University Student Life (SL) was called to order at 10:00 am with Chair Alam presiding.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the April 9, 2021 meeting were not approved due to a lack of quorum.
III. PUBLIC COMMENT
No requests received.
IV. CHAIR’S REMARKS
Chair Alam shared that due to the rise in variant cases, the meetings will be held via Zoom for at least this semester.
V. VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS UPDATES (Brown Young)
Brown Young shared the following:
• This is the largest first year class
• A lot of activities have been planned for 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year students
• There are 9,500 students in Residence Halls
• Vaccination appointments are still be scheduled through McKinley. Vaccinations will be done at CRCE
• The Bookstore has 2,000 orders to fill for textbooks and has temporarily stopped taking orders online
• Welcome Week activities were a hit
• There was a student death last week (first year student).
• Wellness website has been launched (wellness.illinois.edu)
• Counseling Center has piloted a program to do online scheduling for appointments
• College of ACES, Chancellors Office and Campus Rec are creating a campus wide committee to eliminate food insecurity on this campus
• Bryan shared that the campus is very low in its number for positivity rates
VI. ISG PRESIDENT UPDATES
Egiebor shared the following:
• Information Night will be scheduled for September
• ISG want to promote flu shots with McKinley during the Fall
VII. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT UPDATES
McFarlane shared the following:
• As of August 27 there are approximately 3,900 new international students on campus. In comparison, the previous number was 3,300. ISSS is still expecting late arrivals
• Some of the changes for checking in the international students has changed:
o Previously check in was done in person – now it’s being done online
o Normally 15 – 20 student employees were hired to help with the process – this year that was not done. Normally there were 20 -25 staff members to process 3,000 students now there are 7 staff members processing 4,000 students which has led to a slight delay in processing.
• Orientation was done online. Attendance was really good.
• ISSS is pleased with the engagement with the engagement so far. It is too early to judge how the students are acclimating to the area.
VIII. OLD BUSINESS
Topic of Discussion
• Student mental health
• Improvements to orientation (graduate students who may be international students; sexual misconduct survey) and
• Student hunger issues
IX. NEW BUSINESS
SL.22.01, Proposed Expressive Activity on Campus Policy
The committee discussed the Proposed Expressive Activity on Campus Policy and Chair Alam will share feedback with legal counsel when she meets with them on September 8.
SL Minutes 8/27/2021 Page 2 of 3
X. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 am.
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