Vice President and Director of Athletics Phil Esten reviewed updates in the athletic department, a Dougherty Family College update was given, a new member was sworn in and finance updates were overviewed at the Undergraduate Student Government general council meeting Thursday, Nov. 18 at Scooter’s.

Guest Speaker: Phil Esten

Esten discussed updates in the athletics department and talked about the transition to Division I. The transition hasn’t changed the culture; it has “always been pursuing comprehensive excellence.”

“In the business that I’ve been in for a long time, it’s been about creating conditions for success, so that our student athletes have a positive and meaningful experience and can pursue comprehensive excellence,” Esten said.

Esten broke down this excellence into four different categories: pursuing excellence in the classroom, building character and engaging with our community, and lastly, of course, in competition.

Along with discussing the conditions for success, Esten talked about diversity increasing in the athletics department. Employees have increased from 4% to 20% diverse, the population of staff has increased from 10% to 30% women and the student athletes have increased from 12% to 17% diverse.

“We’ve made a lot of progress, I think, from a DEI standpoint, really focusing on where staff is, and we see the same thing from student athletes,” Esten said.

Esten encouraged students to engage with athletics by going to events and discussed the possibility of transportation aid in the future and possibly partnering with Uber for a student discount.

“We’d love for you all to be there and if there’s something we can do to help encourage that, we’re open to it,” Esten said.

Dougherty Family College update

DFC Representative Kal Animut highlighted how the college is working hard to build a strong connection between the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses.

“We’re still working hard with building a strong partnership with USG, (St. Thomas Activities and Recreation) and (the Diversity Activities Board) to be more inclusive with different activities,” Animut said.

New member sworn

USG swore in Spirituality Committee Chair Dillon Smisek.

Finance update

USG unanimously approved club requests for $506.26 for Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and $1,200 for Society of Women Engineers.

Natalie Hoepner can be reached at hoep8497@stthomas.edu.