Newly-elected SA co-Presidents Annemarie Jensen (NJ) and Sal Khan (ND) presided over their first weekly SA Senate meeting on March 12, right before Spring Break, and wasted no time in getting up to speed on the status of campus issues. The new leadership team called on all of the Senate’s committees to report on their recent activities and upcoming initiatives.
Highlights from the presentations included:
Housing and New Construction-Senator Jay Nogueira (NG) said Aldrich Hall has been targeted for improvements to reduce the aesthetic gap between HBS classes’ traditional home and the state-of-the-art instructional facilities opening in brand-new Hawes Hall this summer.
Nogueira said the renovations, which will occur during the next two summer breaks to minimize disruptions to campus life, consist of two phases. In the first stage, common areas like hallways will be renovated to add carpeting and new paneling, making them more like their counterparts in Hawes. The second stage will focus on improvements to the classrooms themselves, including possibly replacing the fixed-base chairs with moveable seats on wheels-a system already installed in Hawes, as well as Aldrich 112.
The housing committee is also working on maximizing the information flow among students. Senator Brad Campbell (OD), said the group is working on assembling an information packet to help advise second-year students on whether to rent or buy their post-graduation housing, while Nogueira noted that an “apartment swap” web site intended to link graduating students with RC students who might want to assume their leases, was recently launched through the my.HBS web site.
Admit Day-sponsors reported strong positive feedback from the prospective members of the Class of 2004 who attended the events on March 9-11. Senator Doug Leister (OG) said that experience would help the second-round Admit Day, scheduled for next month, run even more smoothly.
One key difference will be that participants in next month’s event will attend Friday classes, rather than Monday classes-reducing the risk that they will witness a “low-energy” Monday morning case discussion.
International-International Representative Nikki Germany (OF) said the committee has been working with, Sivanie Shiran, the new international specialist at Career Services to develop useful programs, highlighted by a new practice interview program for international students.
In addition, she said the representatives have worked with the regional clubs to add country-specific information to the prematriculation web site, so incoming students from different nations can get the inside scoop on how to make their transition as smooth as possible.
