The importance of acknowledging that the university is on Dakota land was discussed, a proposal for more outdoor Wi-Fi on the St. Paul campus was accepted, committee and senate updates were given and the upcoming general elections were discussed at the first Undergraduate Student Government general council meeting of the spring semester Thursday, Feb. 11.
Dakota land acknowledgement
Director of Student Diversity and Inclusion Services Alex Hernandez-Siegal spoke about the Land Acknowledgement Committee releasing a statement recognizing that St. Thomas was built on Dakota land.
“This was an 18 month journey, and it was a growing experience for all of us,” Hernandez-Siegal said.
The statement condemns the acts of genocide and forced assimilation that the Dakota people had to endure. They hope the statement is viewed as authentic as it emphasizes truth-telling and decolonizing the mind.
“We wanted to go deeper and something we really emphasized in the statement is what we mean by truth telling, and decolonizing the mind, and instilling the leadership we like to see in our students in terms of carrying on this work here and also in the future,” Hernandez-Siegal said.
Hernandez-Siegel says the committee hopes put up the acknowledgement around campus in an artistic form, such as a painting or plaque. Once the statement is released, it will be available online on a landing page that will include resources to help guide the Indiginous population on campus, as well as inform the greater St. Thomas community.
“We need to do justice to the past and to the present. We need to think about conciliation, the idea of reparations, the idea of responsibility for the institution, and all of that in a sense of action steps, not just words,” Justice and Peace Studies program director Mike Klein said.
The committee also announced a teach-in event on Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m. where they will be discussing St. Thomas’ next steps and educating students through a Q-and-A section.
“Our success will be dictated if students who are underrepresented on campus, see their cultures reflected in the culture of the institution,” Hernandez-Siegal said.
Outdoor Wi-Fi
The special funding committee proposed the installation of outdoor Wi-Fi on the St. Paul campus. Currently the only outdoor Wi-Fi source is at Monahan Plaza between the Anderson Student Center and O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Associate Director of Network and IT Operations Dan Strojny said the university is recognizing that Wi-Fi is more of a necessity now than it has been in the past.
“The problem is now with COVID and just kind of beautification of our campus and everything going on, we see a lot more students outside,” Strojny said.
W-Fi will be installed in 14 locations on north campus and two locations on south campus. Most common areas on each side of campus will include outdoor Wi-Fi to allow students to work outside.
“(Wi-Fi) has really become a necessity and, again, not being able to take advantage of the outdoor space that we have here… I’ve seen people trying to take advantage of that… which is why this was kind of brought to our attention,” Strojny said.
The goal of the plan is to add Wi-Fi installations over the next few months. Strojny said that the target date of finishing the project is April 6. Strojny also mentioned the strength of the Wi-Fi installations will be able to handle about 100 devices at a time.
A motion was made to invest $61,000 into this project and was approved unanimously.
“We plan to get several years out of this stuff,” Strojny said.
Committees
The Student Organizations and Clubs Committee announced that there is a club leaders connect night on Tuesday, Feb. 16 where club leaders can discuss how they’ve been handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(It’s) a way for club leaders to talk about what’s been working on Zoom, what hasn’t been,” senior class President Abby Johnson said.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee announced they are finalizing partnerships to get connected with elementary and middle school aged children virtually and through the St. Paul Urban Tennis Program.
“(It’s) an opportunity for some athletes to mentor Inner City Youth, specifically in the St. Paul area,” SAAC President and junior Jack Nasby said.
They also discussed recognizing Black History Month by recognizing the impact people of color have made on our day to day lives.
The Library Committee announced they will be integrating a new program called MnPals on July 1.
“This will connect us to other universities in the state of Minnesota as well as across the U.S., to larger libraries, larger resources, and more libraries that are similar in size to what we currently have,” freshman class senator Noah Becker said.
Special elections
USG will host campus-wide elections next Thursday and Friday, Feb. 18 and 19 where students will have the opportunity to vote for the Vice President of Equity and Inclusion and the Greater Minnesota/Out of State Senator.
“We will be back to having a full Council, which I’m really excited about,” Vice President of Academic Affairs Tiaryn Daniels said.
USG senate
The USG Senate met last week to make goals for the second semester. They placed emphasis on topics such as mental health, academic success, composting and tuition transparency.
“Hopefully in the coming weeks, we’re able to kind of roll things out as well as advocate for the students,” Executive Vice President & Interim VP of Financial Affairs Adam Revoir said.
Scout Mason can be reached at scmason@stthomas.edu.