The last Student Government General Assembly took place on Sept. 17. The meeting was held in the recently repurposed West Dining Hall and was kick-started by a warm welcome and congratulations to the newly elected Class of 2021 Representative Carlos Riofrio. The new business segment followed quickly after, where a host of student life matters were discussed. Some major concerns were the lack of representation of graduate students in Student Government, reducing printing and lights left on at night across buildings for a more sustainable campus, internet malfunctions and activities to promote integration between freshmen and upperclassmen.

It was established that there are some graduate students on campus that are constitutionally undefined. Whether they should be represented in the current student government or have a separate governing body was debated. Victor Lindsay, staff advisor to Student Government and Associate Director of Student Activities, provided some clarification concerning the status of graduate students on campus, articulating that PhD students at NYU Abu Dhabi are generally enrolled in NYU New York programs and are considered, in some capacity, to be university staff. Lindsay explained that there is generally a significant age gap between the undergraduate and graduate students, with many graduate students having their own families and being at a different stage in life, resulting in contrasting interests with the current Student Government. The general consensus on the matter of inclusion was that the graduate students should decide whether they wish to be involved in student government. These views were summed up by Tyler Headley, Officer of External Affairs, who believes that a reactive approach should be taken rather than a proactive one with regard to graduate student’s involvement in Student Government and Student Life.

Officer of Communications Kate Melville-Rea proposed that we should implement measures to reduce the amount of printing done by students in order to make our campus more eco-friendly and sustainable. She proposed to have a payment method implemented, which was met with shaking heads by the meeting’s attendees. Many argued that classes require a lot of printed material and that it would be somewhat unfair to suddenly implement something like this. However, some alternatives were suggested, such as paying for colored prints only, setting up a daily printing quota per student and using online and digital marketing strategies rather than posters. Class of 2018 Representative Dmitry Dobrovolskiy expressed that budgeting is too stressful and that it is unnecessary to make students pay for printing.

Students expressed concern about the excessive amount of lights that remain on in classrooms and offices across campus at night. Many suggested having some of the lights in buildings turned off after hours. Officer of Communications Kate Melville-Rea explained that previous enquiries into the matter revealed that it was mostly a public safety issue and that leaving lights on at night ensures greater visibility and thus better security from potential danger. Lindsay explained that the issue is not as simple as flipping a switch due to the fact that the buildings are generally engineered to have lights turned on once movement is sensed. However, Murphy stated that there has been a significant reduction in light usage on campus.

The issue of weak connections to the NYU Wi-Fi network was next on the agenda. The university’s Information Technology team is working on addressing the matter. Suggestions were made to keep a track of the number of complaints received, in order to make the rectification of the matter more urgent. Students also recommended connecting to NYU guest or signing into Eduroam using your student NetID when there are internet glitches on university’s primary network.

Lastly, there was a plea to host more activities on campus where freshmen can meet upperclassmen students. Lindsay made it clear that the Office of Student Life is willing to sponsor events that promote student integration once reasonably priced. Some upperclassmen students in attendance suggested the revival of the ice-cream social event, which they considered a good opportunity for them to meet upperclassmen students in their freshman year. Some students also articulated that more should be done to make social events more inclusive by designing them to appeal to students with different personalities on campus.

Correction: Sept. 25, 2017