Town Hall Meeting

By Louie Wein

Contributing Writer

People gathered and questions flew during the first Town Hall meeting of the semester.

The meeting took place on Sept. 9 at 6 p.m., in Beers Lecture Hall.

The East Stroudsburg University Student Senate sponsored event gives students a chance to come and present their questions to the chosen guest that week in an open forum-style conversation.

Last week, students got a chance to ask their questions to the Student Enrollment Center and the Student Engagement part of the Student Activity Association.

Kizzy Morris and Terry Proctor represented the Enrollment Services Center and spoke about changes to financial aid.

They hope to start making things easier and simpler for students.

One change they are working on is getting diplomas out faster.  They aim to do this by shortening the time between when a student submits their intent to graduate and Enrollment Services confirms that the student has meant all the requirements.

Electronic transcripts are also in the works. The new system would allow students to track and receive alerts along the way.  This way, a student can know when it is sent, received, and opened.

Fernado Alcatar, associate director of Student Engagement, spoke about getting students engaged outside of the classroom.

Alcatar said, “Life happens outside books.” He wants to work really hard on getting all students, but especially commuters, involved in all campus activities.

Student Senate started these town hall meetings last year and are really trying to get more people to attend them.

Brittany Washington, the Extra Curricular Affairs Chair for Student Senate, said, “The town hall was low in attendance. If attendance was higher, there would have been more room for discussions.”

Still, Student Senate is trying to reach people who may not be able to attend. Public Relations Chair Kelsey Bruzgo is working feverishly on twitter to reach people who weren’t there.

“My job is to mostly get answers to question or concerns out on Twitter for students who can’t or didn’t attend the meeting so that they can still get answers and have more incentive to come next time if they like what they hear. “

Bruzgo also says that soon, students will be able to live tweet into the meeting and get their questions answered.

“Last semester, we had a live tweet session during Town Halls, and that will be starting up again at the next one.”

Despite counting a low attendence, Student Senate calls the town hall a success.

“I think the town hall meeting was interesting. It’s great to be able to have an open discussion with certain areas of campus outside of their usual intimidating office. Town hall meetings are a great venue for students to be in the same room as a professional so that their questions can be addressed,” said one senator.

Student senate will offer a Town Hall meeting each month and will begin live tweeting at the next one.

The next Town Hall meeting will be Oct. 25 at 6 p.m., in Beers Lecture Hall.

Email Louie at:

lwein@live.esu.edu