With the semester winding down, the Student Association has made mixed progress on several reforms it proposed in early November.
Burgio has scored a success by working with Kerry Grant, vice provost for Academic Affairs, to secure an online program that will post course syllabi months before the semester starts so that students can better prepare for classes and judge what they're getting into.
However, progress has come more slowly on reforms to student insurance, campus dining services, a proposed winter music festival, and changes to the campus parking policy.
Burgio said the course syllabi posting program will be voluntary at first, but he expects to have 30 to 40 percent of courses participating, especially general education courses.
"It looks like we'll have something up and running in August 2005," he said.
Still in the works are proposals for a second, cheaper Sub-Board health insurance plan, and several rules changes in the Student-Wide Judiciary's procedures.
Burgio said SA is still "weighing the benefits" of an alternative insurance plan, and there's so much to sift through regarding the SWJ, that some of it is even over his head.
"It's coming along a little more slowly than I'd like," he said, adding that SA will issue a comprehensive report in March to address all the final changes.
Burgio also had a meeting several weeks ago with Mitchell Green, executive director of FSA Campus Dining, to discuss what Burgio said were policies unfair to students. Some of those policies, Burgio said, are contractual issues that keep SA from distributing free food and holding cookouts.
Green said the meeting "went fine" but that Student Union policy is mostly out of his hands.
"It's Student Union policy, so I think we both need to work within the policy and see everyone is accommodated properly," Green said.
But Burgio said the problem goes beyond that.
"FSA wants to have a monopoly on all food served on campus, whether its paid for with mandatory student activity fees or not," he said.
Outside of policy issues, Burgio highlighted SA Entertainment events, the progress of SATV and Visions, and the organizing of the Winter Gala all as positives in November.
SA Vice President Dela Yador said he's excited about next semester, but this past month has been a cool one for SA with not too much out of the ordinary.
"SA's progress this month has been a little on the quiet side, to an extent," he said.
Yador said the one project that increasingly looks like it won't get off the ground is Winter Fest.
"Since September we've been pretty much trying to figure out whether we can have this Winter Fest," he said. "But we're not going to damage a future show, like last year, just to appease a crowd."
Paul Balzano, SA director of Student Affairs, echoed Yador's emphasis on the events kicking off next semester, such as spring break promotions and Fiesta.
"I think a lot of the things we've done is to invest for next semester," he said.
Balzano said one ongoing project this month has been to revive the "drunk bus," which stopped almost two years ago when the private bus driver got tired of putting up with the nightly problems shuttling wasted students presented.
Balzano said if revived, SA would want to extend the service to Chippewa, but it would cost $17,000 per semester, a price SA can't cover by itself.
"I would like to think it's a service students would use," he said.
Another focus this month for Balzano was the Department of Parking and Transportation proposal to ban freshmen from parking near the academic spine, which was discussed in both SA Senate and Assembly meetings.
"Our position is that before we relegate commuters to outside lots, we should first make sure the inside lots are being utilized as effectively as possible," he said.
Balzano suggested the answer instead lies in banning students who drive from the dorms. For that to work, however, the campus shuttle systems need to be more consistent. Such proposals, he said would be discussed when SA officials meet with the university.
"You can't plan your life around transportation that doesn't work," he said.
Burgio said he also thought the plan was unfair to commuters and freshmen.
"If you want to decrease involvement, decrease morale, and ensure your freshman population is unsatisfied, make them park in the Center for Tomorrow," he said. "It's a step in the wrong direction."
Burgio has also expressed an interest in examining the role of Student Life and how both it and Student Affairs fit in with the services provided by SA. Burgio added he has been talking with President Simpson's transition team and Chief of Staff, James Willis, and he is happy with the progress.
"I think we're just generally confused about the general sub-division of Student Life and how they all come together," Burgio said.
Dennis Black, vice president for Student Affairs, said he has yet to meet with SA on any of the student affairs issues Burgio wants to address.
"All I know is what I saw in The Spectrum," Black said in an e-mail. "Happy to work on this with SA, as some things they provide do supplement the campus experience."
