The Student Activities Committee began to audit its group categorization process this week and invited group representatives to give feedback about the system at the general body meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students Wednesday night.
The committee "has been asking itself how it can better serve student groups on campus," said Chair Ralanda Nelson '12, and "they are open to critique."
Samantha Sanders '13, coordinator of the student group Project Health, said the committee should be more transparent in explaining its policies for how a group can advance from lower to higher category designation. Categories — which range from level I to level III — qualify groups for different levels of funding from the Undergraduate Finance Board, Nelson said. Sanders said her group tried to meet with the committee three times this semester to move from Category II to Category III, but the group was told that all available slots had been filled each time.
In a change from past semesters, the committee saw a maximum of four groups per meeting and also spent several designated meetings on internal business rather than categorization, which limited the number of groups that could be seen during the meeting's allotted time, Nelson said.
Student Activities is considering implementing changes such as categorizing groups in bulk at the beginning of each semester to allow time for other committee development, Nelson added.
Katie Colleran, a representative from the Student Activities Office, also spoke about changing the MyGroups site — an online directory for student groups — to make it more accessible, potentially upgrading to a newer version next semester and then looking to change companies altogether in the long-term.
Also at the meeting, Campus Life Chair David Rattner '13 said a farmer's market will likely not be held in the Kasper Multipurpose Room this winter as the committee had previously hoped because there are specific health code regulations applied to any food option served indoors.
The Communications Committee completed the first fireside chat conversation with Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. The chat will now be edited and made available for viewership before the end of the semester, said committee member Mitra Anoushiravani '11, a former Herald senior staff writer.
Ben Farber '11 also announced instant runoff voting will officially be on MyCourses this year.
