The Undergraduate Student Government general council approved $50,000 to go toward a student memorial, discussed a return to S-D-R grading amid the ongoing pandemic and approved pre-optometry club at its Dec. 4 meeting.
$50,000 granted to student memoriam
USG approved $50,000 for the creation of an artistic memorial to honor St. Thomas students who have lost their lives during their time at St. Thomas.
These funds were rolled over from last academic year and will be used to pay three semifinalists and one finalist in an open art call for the creation of this memorial. USG contributed another $50,000 to this project in 2018 that will go toward the creation and the installation for the artwork.
Art History department chair Victoria Young spoke about the importance of this memorial piece.
“This will be a very, very powerful moment for our campus,” Young said.
This memorial will be located behind the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas near Tommie East and is projected to be installed next fall.
Discussion about a return to S-D-R grading
USG discussed the possibility of offering S-D-R grading due to educational changes made during the ongoing pandemic.
S-D-R grading gives students the option to receive a pass, D or a fail on their transcript as opposed to a traditional letter grade.
Some members of USG said they don’t know if this is necessary, while others pushed for an S-D-R grading choice. Vice President of Academic Affairs Tiaryn Daniels said this grading choice should be considered because some students don’t have access to an adequate at-home learning environment.
“I think that if we are really going to talk about equity in academics, that this is a conversation that needs to be had and needs to be had with some level of seriousness,” Daniels said.
When discussing whether S-D-R grading would affect post-graduate plans, Vice President of Diversity Maria Ambrose said it will not.
“I’ll be going to law school and my perspective is, I don’t want to go to a school that doesn’t have an understanding of the fact that (this semester happened amid) a global pandemic,” Ambrose said.
USG executives will discuss this further at the Dec. 4 administration breakfast and report back to the general council during their Dec. 10 meeting.
Pre-optometry club approved
Junior Isabelle Ampe presented on behalf of the pre-optometry club while seeking approval from USG.
Ampe said she hopes the pre-optometry club will act as more than a professional network.
“I also want to encourage students who are on a pre-med track to consider optometry,” Ampe said. “I feel like sometimes it’s not totally given the light of day. A lot of people don’t really think about that if they’re wanting to go pre-med or something in the health field.”
USG approved the pre-optometry club in a unanimous vote.
Funding requests
USG approved $1,060 to the Muslim Student Association for catering and a game night and $100 for Students for Justice and Peace to pay for an event and funding for a speaker.
Angeline Terry can be reached at terr2351@stthomas.edu.