Student Senate’s new position provides real opportunity

On Monday, Aug. 27, sixteen week on-ground classes embarked on the journey for a new school year. Seeing familiar faces and new ones, it was a great way to start the year. However, for the commuters, it was a pretty frustrating time.

The Commuter Lounge, located in The Perch, was very hot and humid.

For the next two or three weeks, in the hot days of August and September, the commuters had no air conditioning, making it hard to be comfortable in a place they consider “a home away from home.”

These conditions spoke volumes to a need for representation, so needless to say, finding out that commuters had the opportunity to have a seat on University Student Senate made  everyone  beyond joyful.

In my opinion, the commuter population usually takes the backseat and are not taken into consideration for major events or situations on campus.

During 2015, for example, when Pope Francis visited, many roads were blocked. Public transportation was not working and to travel from New Jersey or other parts of Pennsylvania was difficult. Instead of being canceled, classes were still in session. Therefore, commuters either had to sacrifice an absence and stay home or find a way to make it to school.

When there is snow but class is not canceled, it is a struggle for commuters to find a way to make it to class. They go out of their way, even though the roads may not be too safe, to wake up hours earlier to travel or to sleep somewhere on or near campus just to not miss class for the day.

Other times commuters are looking for a place to park and aren’t given prior notice when a majority of the parking lot is blocked with metal gates leaving them with limited parking.

There is also a lack of communication so sometimes the commuters do not know what is going on around campus. In that way, participation in events and the college experience suffers.

Commuters want to look back at their time during college and relive great memories, not memories where they say “I wish I could have done…”

This idea of commuters having more representation is a step in the right direction. When I met with someone from University Student Senate to talk about the needs of commuters, I expressed how we want to be more interactive with the campus.

As a commuter, it meant a lot that Student Senate reached out to try to understand the needs of commuters on campus and to make their experience at St. Joe’s better.

It was this semester that another member mentioned the meeting about commuters having a seat on Student Senate to bring forth better ways for everyone to be included. This meeting was successful as Student Senate amended their law to allow one commuter to join them.

There are about 400 commuters on St. Joe’s campus, and some may know where the Commuter Lounge is and others may not. However, the opportunity of joining Student Senate will allow many to connect and prevent feeling abandoned on our campus.

Sometimes it is hard for someone who does not live on campus to make connections and make friends. It is also hard not knowing the many opportunities that St. Joe’s provides.

Personally, I never knew about the Success Center or the different locations of Counseling and Psychological Services until one of my friends who lives on campus told me about it.

It is situations like this that need to be avoided and fixed as this new person takes the position on Student Senate.

We need to make it well known that commuters have a voice too, and just like everyone else, have the right to take advantage of every opportunity given to them on campus until they graduate.

I hope that this new member brings forth the many concerns and advantages that the commuters have while also communicating well the many experiences we can take advantage of to make our time here memorable; to make St. Joe’s really feel like a home away from home.