The Executive branch of Student Union includes many different components, but is generally designed to ensure the overall welfare of the student government and student body. Find out more »
This is to solicit applications for the position of two non-voting undergraduate student representatives to the Washington University Board of Trustees. The university-wide Undergraduate Selection Committee will select the finalists to be interviewed by a member of the Board of Trustees, who will then determine which two undergraduate students will serve in this important role in the coming year 2010-2011. All interested sophomores and juniors are encouraged to apply.
An undergraduate student representative to the Board of Trustees must be a full-time current sophomore or junior, be in good academic standing, and able to make the time commitment necessary. In addition, it is important that the undergraduate student representative have knowledge of undergraduate experience at Washington University, be articulate, be able to present a variety of opinions, have sound judgment, maintain confidentiality, and hold the respect of peers, of the faculty, and others who know the undergraduate student representative. The undergraduate student representative should also be willing to maintain close communication with the several undergraduate constituencies within the Washington University community.
APPLICATION PROCESS
1. Read all sections of the selection documents before you submit your online application. If you have questions about the undergraduate student representative position, please contact the Dean of Students' Office at 935-4329 or Lora Clark at lora.e.clark@wustl.edu or the current Undergraduate Student Representatives, Kaitlin (Kady) McFadden at kadymcfadden@gmail.com or Danielle Porter at d.catherine.porter@gmail.com.
2. Complete all sections of your portion of the online application and submit by noon on Wednesday, March 24, 2010.
3. Check to make sure your application has two recommendation letters; at least one must be from a faculty member and a second from another member of the Washington University Community. Please ask your recommenders to use the online recommender forms and submit online by noon on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. NOTE: You should select recommenders who are familiar with your academic record and leadership activities. Members of the Undergraduate Selection Committee are not eligible to write recommendations.
4. It is your responsibility to check that your application file is complete. Your file should contain your completed on-line application form, your one-page resume, your essay responses and two completed recommendation forms from your recommenders. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
5. Interviews for undergraduate student finalists will take place on Thursday, April 8, 2010 from 4:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the Danforth University Center (DUC) 161 to select nominees. The nominees will then be interviewed by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees on Friday, April 16, between 10:00 a.m. and noon. Please mark your calendar and plan to be available if you are selected for interviews.
Note: Meeting dates for Washington University Board of Trustees: May 7, 2010; October 1, 2010; December 3, 2010; March 4, 2011; and May 6, 2011.
For more information call Lora Clark, 935-4329. To verify complete application is received, call Lora Clark at 314-935-4329
In September, Student Union appointed an Executive Advisor for Sustainability and created the Green Events Commission (GEC) to help student groups make their events more environmentally sustainable. The GEC has been tremendously successful, helping make campus traditions like WILD and Dance Marathon greener. The GEC's success is even more impressive since student groups are not forced to implement any sustainability measures. Such a mandate is unnecessary--student groups have been very willing to take a few extra steps to reduce their events' environmental impact when given the resources and knowledge to do so.
Such cooperation is why we have been developing a framework that further empowers student groups to plan greener events. The framework that we envision is simple: the GEC will continue to outline steps to make events greener and Student Union will reward student groups that implement them.
The fundamental characteristics of the framework are:
legislation that makes the Executive Advisor for Sustainability and the GEC a permanent part of Student Union,
a Protocol for Green Events that outlines concrete steps to make events greener,
a loner system where groups can reserve (for free!) reusable plates, silverware, cups, recycle bins, and water jugs for use during events,
an incentive structure where student groups will be rewarded with "credits" for using the loaner system and implementing actions specified in the Protocol, and
a rebate structure through which student groups can trade in accumulations of credits for financial, PR and other rebates.
Starting next week, we will put the wheels in motion so that this system can come to fruition. We will propose legislation to Senate and Treasury that will make the Executive Advisor for Sustainability and the GEC permanent parts of Student Union, and authorize the GEC to propose a Protocol for Green Events.
After the first round of legisltation , we will meet with student group leaders to fully develop the Protocol for Green Events and the incentive and rebate structures that will accompany it. Please go to the Student Union website to read more about this effort and leave comments. We look forward to hearing from you!
Eve Samborn from Student Life interviews Jeff Nelson about the new Go WUSTL email service, over-programming, and a rating of the Monanta administration's efforts during the past year.
Here are a few improvements that are being implemented in Dining Services.
New Hours
Trattoria Verde & DelisiOSO in the DUC now close at 8pm on Fridays. The Village Stir Fry served until 9pm Sunday-Thursday. The Village Grill open until 2am on Friday and Saturday.
New Menu Items
Soy Nuggets available in Bear Bakery & Grill. Melt-of-the-Day at 1853 Diner. Calzones and Breadsticks at Trattoria Verde. Ibby's seasonal dinner menu. Late Night Breakfast at the Village Grill.
Coming Soon
Webfood on the South 40.
For more information please download the attached pdf.
Sierra Club Radio Missouri Power Shift http://www.missouri.powershift09.org/ National Power Shift http://www.powershift09.org... River Front Times http://bit.ly/2haqSG Sierra Student Coalition http://tinyurl.com/y8m4acr It's Getting Hot In Here http://tinyurl.com/ylb7v49 Campus Progress http://tinyurl.com/yzf83of Student Life http://www.studlife.com/ Student Union www.su.wustl.edu Earth Stream http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Pollution-and-Warming/VIDEO WashU-flashmob-confronts-Coal-Executives_18_196__214066.html STL Today http://tinyurl.com/yjagf3k Rainforest Action Network http://understory.ran.org/2009/11/04/flashmob-at-americas-energy-future-conference-at-washington-university-in-st-louis/ Earth Blips http://earthblips.dailyradar.com/video/green-action-flashmob/ KWMU/NPR http://tinyurl.com/ylh8rse St. Louis Activist Hub Green Corps Environmental Leadership Responsible Endowments Coalition
NOTE: This blog post is courtesy of Will Fischer and Green Action
Something loud is afoot on our sleepy campus in St. Louis. Washington University students are beginning to re-discover what connects them. Students that have never successfully worked together have just executed the largest direct action on our campus. The target: big coal’s influence on our institution.
At the end of this summer, Washington University appointed two new members to its board of trustees, Gregory Boyce, CEO of Peabody Energy, and Steven F. Leer, CEO of Arch Coal. As you most likely know, they are the one-two of coal mining who together preside over 13 billion tons of proven coal reserves. They are both deeply involved in mountaintop coal mining, destroying communities and ecosystems across Appalachia. For years they have lobbied against positive protective legislation, including the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. Now, they check our chancellor’s every action and shape the future of our institution. This comes in the wake of the formation of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization (CCCU) last December. This research group, funded by (guess) Peabody, Arch Coal, and the local utility Ameren, plans to build a 1 megawatt demonstration carbon capture & sequestration plant on our campus.
And this last Monday, our administration organized “America’s Energy Future,” a symposium to which Steven F. Leer of Arch Coal and Fred Palmer of Peabody Energy, among others, were invited to discuss our energy “future.” It was a five-hour-long symposium culminating in a reception in the new student center (to see a program description, see here). We saw presentations on “Green Coal” where earth movers the size of houses were depicted moseying through fields. There were a couple champions of reality, but the overarching theme was deceit. There was nearly zero representation from renewable energy companies. What is the “future” according to our administration? Well, it looks a lot like our present: coal, oil, and nuclear. This is not OUR Energy Future.
To coincide with the conference, we held a rally, a press conference, an alternate symposium titled “OUR Energy Future,” and executed a silent flash mob and banner-drop to challenge Big Coal on campus!
We had unsuccessfully lobbied to change the name of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization and remained silent since the appointing of the trustees. We really couldn’t take it anymore. We saw an opportunity- and they just made it so easy.
A coalition of student groups, including the student-run farm The Burning Kumquat, Students for Endowment Transparency, and Green Action planned a direct action to challenge our university’s failure to recognize the legitimacy of renewable energy. During their plush reception in our student center, over 100 students entered the building and dispersed themselves among the assembled crowd. Along the balconies lining the reception were five two-person banner drop teams. On a signal, four teams dropped their banners over the balcony, baring messages including “Coal Is Never Clean” and “Our Energy Future.” At the same time, the 100 assembled students raised their fists to display yellow wristbands made of global warming crime scene tape and held up yellow signs with the “Beyond Coal” logo. The final banner was dropped over the main staircase bearing the words “Power Beyond Coal” painted among students’ signatures. A student addressed the silent crowd with a megaphone, “We present to you a banner bearing our signatures as a petition on behalf of this and future generations. We will not stand aside while executives from Arch Coal and Peabody paint a dirty energy future for our school and our nation. We believe that America's real energy future uses renewable, socially responsible energy sources," and invited them to our alternate symposium. It was fantastic- ethereal- and it’s all on tape.
Where do we go now? Our Student Union Senate plans to pass a resolution denouncing Washington University’s use of the “clean coal” marketing slogan, supporting Monday’s direct action, and demanding the university change the name of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization. We will maintain the alliances we have developed and work on involving more students to feed off of the energy we have created. We will push forward, gaining momentum in our rally against the unjust actions and policies of our administration. This is the beginning- AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO KICK ASH!
Student Union is pushing for extended dining hours in the Village. The Montana administration recently conducted a poll to determine the appropriate way to move forward and Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for the following:
Keep the Grill open until 2 a.m on Friday and Saturday.
Keep Stir Fry open until 9 p.m. on Sunday-Thursday.
Conduct a pilot program from the beginning of the Spring semester to the beginning of Spring Break to ensure that extending dining hours in the Village is financially self sustaining.
Conduct a survey of North Side residents to get more data about Village dining.
For more information, download the following attachments to see the proposed resolution and survey data.
There is one spot open on Treasury but all applications will be held and considered for future vacancies as well! Applications are due by Nov. 10, 2009, either by e-mail at or in the Speaker of the Treasury's mailbox on the 2nd floor of the SU office in the DUC.
St. Louis, MO—Today, we are announcing that Trevor Mattea will resign from his position as Student Union Vice President of Administration effective in two weeks. Trevor announced his resignation to the Executive Council on Friday, citing a desire to make an “impact at Washington University” using his “time and talents outside of Student Union”.
Trevor has been a tremendous asset to the Montana Administration and Student Union as a whole. Trevor became a Senator during his freshman year and served as chairperson of the Campus Services Committee last year. In these capacities Trevor worked on several campus issues like dining and school spirit.
Unfortunately, the bureaucratic structure of the Vice President of Administration position made it difficult for Trevor to make a noticeable difference in the lives of students. He, thus determined that his time could be more effectively used elsewhere. We fully understand Trevor’s frustrations and are committed to working with him in a different capacity to renew student activism and make Student Union a more effective organization.
We are thankful for the two years of service that Trevor has given to Student Union and wish him well in his future endeavors. We are sad to see him go, but his resignation is another reminder of the need to reform Student Union to be a more active organization that has a genuine ability to make a positive impact on the daily experience of all students.
The Montana Administration intends to nominate a replacement who will assume office upon confirmation by Senate and Treasury no later than November 1st. Individuals who are interested or have suggestions for potential replacements should contact the Montana Administration by email at president@su.wustl.edu .
I applaud the nearly 200 students who peacefully protested the outrageous acts of discrimination that occurred in Chicago during the senior class trip. It is very disheartening to know that six students who have contributed greatly to our community and have earned the respect and admiration of their peers were treated with such disregard. Nevertheless, I am encouraged by the manner in which so many students have rallied together to take collective action. I commend Fernando and the seniors who organized the protest for acting quickly and courageously. I hope that this incident will reignite a larger dialogue about race relations and diversity on campus.
