St. Joe’s University Student Senate (USS) hosted a town hall meeting on Feb. 21 to discuss St. Joe’s pending merger with the University of Sciences, set to be finalized this summer.
During the town hall, a main point of conversation related to how different student organizations, such as the two university’s student governments, will merge.
“For next year, it’s still, for the most part, going to be two separate student organizations that may have overlapping interests, identities, names, etc.,” Sal De Rienzo ’22, vice president of the USS, told The Hawk. “It’s really going to be on the onus of the leadership in each respective organization to meet next year and figure out how for the following year, they can move together as just one organization rather than two if they overlap.”
Another issue raised at the town hall included transportation between the two campuses.
De Rienzo said two shuttles will run back and forth between each campus on 45-minute cycles Monday through Friday. Each shuttle is planned to take 30 minutes to get to the other side of campus, with 15 minutes for offload and pickup. The shuttles will also have WiFi.
In order to help determine what information might be included in future communications, members of both university communities are invited to submit questions from an FAQ web page dedicated to the merger.
In a Feb. 9 university announcement to students at both universities, Cary Anderson, Ed.D., vice president and associate provost for Student Life, and Ross Radish, J.D., vice president of Student Affairs and dean of students at USciences, encouraged students from both schools to send in questions through the FAQ web page.
Gail Benner, associate vice president of Marketing and Communications, wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk that the university will respond to students who submit a question on the merger FAQ web page, as emails are captured for reply.
“There have only been a handful [of questions],” Benner said. “Because we manage the university’s website, the questions come to Marketing and Communications, but we send them on to the appropriate office for response. If a number of students ask the same question, we’ll consider putting it into the FAQ.”
The Feb. 9 announcement said academic and program-specific questions are best directed to the chair of the department, program director, college dean or academic advisor, like Tim Higgins, director of undergraduate advising.
“The advising offices have not fielded any merger-related questions from current students,” Higgins wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk. “I anticipate that this could change as we approach the fall registration period.”
Angela Buchanico, executive director of Marketing at USciences, is currently working with USciences campus communications and is involved with the St. Joe’s FAQ web page. Buchanico did not respond for comment by the time of publication.
The announcement also encouraged students to engage with their USS leaders to share suggestions, questions and concerns.
“We haven’t had a ton of students reach out. We’re definitely hoping that if questions arise then more students continue to reach out to us,” De Rienzo said. “We’re just trying to actively have conversations with students.”
The St. Joe’s and USciences merger FAQ page can be reached at https://www.sju.edu/usciences/frequently-asked-questions