Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services Mitch Karstens spoke on dining services and student ID changes, the Minnesota State Grant was discussed and a club was approved at the Undergraduate Student Government general council meeting on March 11.
Guest speaker: Mitch Karstens, Auxiliary Services
Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services Mitch Karstens joined USG to speak on behalf of Dining Services, the Card Office, parking and campus stores.
Karstens also announced that the university is bringing in a new dietitian to help students with dietary restrictions and teach students how to eat healthy on campus.
“I’m working with students to promote that program and where and how they can eat in our dining facilities,” Karstens said.
Karstens said that T’s will be moving towards more reusable packaging this spring, with the full launch coming in the fall.
This also comes with removing to-go packaging from The View and Northsider in the fall, a transition that was made due to COVID-19. Karstens said that before to-go items are removed, all to-go items will be compostable in the dining halls as well as catering options.
Karstens announced that dining services has finalized a contract to purchase a food truck. The food truck will be available for concessions on game days, serving items like cheese curds and french fries.
“We are going to widen (selections) a lot,” Karstens said. “(It will be) just a more robust side of concessions.”
The food truck will also serve as a catering option for on-campus events, including Food Truck Fridays, which will begin next semester with the truck moving around to different locations on campus. The food truck will be accessible to students using eXpress dollars or dining dollars as well as cash or card.
Karstens then talked about the card office’s move from Murray-Herrick to the Anderson Student Center, where it now sits on the second floor. The card office is working on mobile credentials which will give students the ability to use their student ID’s through their smartphone and smart watches to do anything the physical card does.
“We are really excited about that. We are just in the process of finalizing that contract and moving that out so that students don’t have to have a physical ID card with them,” Karstens said.
Karstens also said that the university will not be changing any parking lot labels for next year but will be adding electric charging stations over the summer into the Anderson Parking Facility on South Campus and Lot K, located near McNeely Hall.
“We’ll be able to charge an additional eight vehicles on campus,” Karstens said.
Bike storage will also be boosted over the summer with storage spaces being added to the East West block by McNeely Hall
Campus stores will also be price matching on textbooks starting the fall semester.
“You will be able to come in and get your books and if you can show that there is a cheaper price we will actually match that price,” Karstens said.
Dennis Egan
Dennis Egan, a Minnesota Private College Representative who has represented St. Thomas for 15 years, spoke at the meeting. Egan talked about giving students the opportunity to meet with Minnesota Representatives to tell their story on receiving financial aid.
Egan is trying to get the Minnesota legislature to lower the percentage of financial responsibility on students from 50% to 47% in the Minnesota State Grant. This grant gives students money to pay for the college of their choice.
About 77,000 Minnesotans participate in this program and about 1600 St. Thomas students receive the grant. Currently, students receive just under $5000 a year in financial aid under the government program. This amount would go up with the change.
“Many college students are in the service industry, and many of those industries have been shut down for the last four months, six months, 12 months, whatever it may have been. And we know that people are struggling. We know that families are struggling,” Egan said.
To make these changes, Egan and the Minnesota Private College Council are setting up meetings between Minnesota Reps. and students so that students can tell them why lowering financial responsibility is important.
“They are setting the next state budget for the next two years, so it’s a critical year that we talk to legislators, and if we have any shot at trying to increase the budget for the grant recipients, we have to do it this year,” Egan said.
Disc Golf Club
Disc Golf Club presented with the hopes of being approved by USG.
The club’s mission is to get students outside and active during COVID-19, support students in competition and build a strong foundation and culture.
“We wanted the club (to be) as fun and exciting and something that students really look forward to in their week,” sophomore Kaden Czech said.
USG unanimously passed the motion for Disc Golf Club.
Spring Elections
Elections are being set up for the spring semester with interest packets being released on March 19. Schoolwide voting will be conducted April 22 and 23.
Club requests
USG unanimously approved club requests for $236 to the Music Industry Club to attend a South by Southwest virtual conference, $1,810 to Ballroom Dance Club to work with a cinema ballroom and a professional ballroom dance teacher, $250 to the Pre-Law Society for the registration fee for an opening round championship tournament and $650 to the National Society of Black Engineers the Collegiate APEX registration.
Scout Mason can be reached at maso7275@stthomas.edu.