Town Hall Focuses on Gen-Eds

Lottie Castronova
Contributing Writer

The first Student Senate Town Hall meeting of the semester was held on Sept. 21 in Beers Lecture Hall.

Quote from Daniel Waston, Student Affairs Chairman for the Student Senate.

The primary topic of the meeting was the new General Education (GE) Program that is in full affect for all new and some transfer students at ESU.

Guest speakers included Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Jeff Weber, Chair of the Theatre Department Margaret Ball and Director of Enrollment Services Kizzy Morris.

For this Town Hall, Watson took a different approach. “I walked around campus two weeks before the Town Hall and recorded students asking questions or stating concerns that they had regarding the topics that was discussed at the Town Hall. I then edited those videos and played them during the event,” he said.

“It was more like the Students were controlling the meeting because they were getting straight to the point about the information that wanted. The presenters did a great job in answering every question and equally taking a portion of the presentation to touch on!”

Watson previewed the information to be covered during the meeting before he began a small trivia game with handouts of ESU gear for the winners, including hats and t-shirts.

After the small trivia game, the students became more involved. Then, the important information began.

The new GE Program will have new and transfer students with 23 transfer credits or less complete 45 credits consisting of three parts.

These three parts, called Breadth Requirements, consist of 12 credits in each section of Arts and Letters, Science, and Social Science.

In addition to the 36 Breadth Requirements, nine credits of required courses will include English 103 (composition), First Year Experience (FYE), and a Wellness course. These courses must be completed in the first year.

“Breath of Knowledge courses that will help our Warriors be well-rounded in all areas. Helps with creativity and overall knowledge for life after college,” explained Watson.

The purpose of this GE Program is to have students gain a further knowledge within the student’s major and evolve the precise abilities that employers look for.

Students can gain further knowledge and inquire answers with their advisors on this program, to see how this may or may not affect them.

“I believe this Town Hall was one of the better more engaging ones where students actually left excited and was happy with the information they received, and the way it was relayed,” stated Watson.

During the meeting, Watson also announced he will be stepping down from his position.

“It was hard Resigning from Senate but it was a hard decision that I had to make. I will continue to RUNESU in other ways believe me, I will always be a senator at heart wearing my senate gear! …..And look out for the WarriorWatch!”exclaimed Watson.

Moving forward, Watson hopes his replacement Hafiz Tunis and Student Senate will continue to hold Town Hall meetings.

“I will hope that Senate will continue to find answers to student’s issues that arise daily, because believe it or not, most times the University listens and comes up with a solutions or already have solutions in place. I hope that Senate can be innovative in finding ways to get the message out to our students about how they can better their college experience and how great ESU is!”

Email Lottie at:
lcastronov@live.edu.edu