This week, Student Forum met with special guest Dean Ryan Keytack, director of the U Journey, to discuss an electrifying new residential experience for generations of Chargers to come. 

Dean Keytack explained that the new U Journey will deliver improved service across the campus to all housing in a timely manner, not sporadically. “We are one residential experience, therefore all students should expect consistent service,” Keytack said. 

He also discussed how the Minerva program may seem outdated, and proposed a possibility for “Minervas 2.0.” Keytack believes that Minervas should add substantial supplemental learning outside of the classroom to improve the student experience. “The Minerva program was implemented 25 years ago. How can we realign the needs of all students living on campus? How can we shift the program and messaging to be about life skills & belonging?” Keytack put a lot of emphasis on the importance of the feeling of belonging and the implementation of life skills, saying that Minervas should be places of belonging and learning. By extension, the U Journey will hopefully make the campus as a whole an environment of belonging and learning. 

Dean Keytack is looking for interns who are interested in marketing and creating an image for the U Journey. This Dean of Students Marketing Intern position will be paid, and is not a work study. (Reach out to him at [email protected] for more information)

Additionally, Student Forum discussed the urgent topic of changing West Dining’s hours of operation. The Forum decided that beginning this upcoming Friday, West would not be open for dinner on Fridays. This consensus was reached because West has had very little foot traffic on Friday evenings for dinner since Upper’s new weekend hours. With the closing of West on Friday evenings, more staff will hopefully be allocated to opening more dinner stations at Upper. 

Finally, Forum discussed the shift from the Green Grant to the Green Fee. The Green Grant is waning, but the Green Fee is a new initiative funded annually by Union that will be replacing the Green Grant. Anyone interested in gaining funding for environmentally motivated projects should consider applying to the Green Fee!

Email [email protected] for more info.

Have a fantastic week Garnet Chargers!

– Mariel 🙂

The above information was collected and compiled from the minutes of Student Forum’s meeting on 10/20/2023. It has been compiled for the benefit of the readers of the Concordiensis by Mariel Silpe ([email protected]), Secretary of Student Forum.