During their informal meeting on Sept. 18, Student Government Association (SGA) members broke into groups and discussed campus-wide improvements they want to make.

One group focused on the College’s changes to dining services this year and whether these changes have increased student satisfaction.

The group specifically discussed the new made-to-order system in the Caporale Lounge, noting that students have appreciated the freshness of the ingredients used in this new system. However, there are concerns about the amount of time it takes to get through the line.

Another group focused on healthcare and alcohol issues on campus. Pointing out that some students with laboratory requirements or other late classes have trouble making Health Center appointments, East Quad Dorm President Monica Davis ’13 suggested that a doctor could stay until 6 p.m. or possibly 8 p.m. at least once a week. This would be a compromise between the current Health Center hours and the 24-hour schedule from past years.

This group also considered the possibility of acquiring a breathalyzer in the security office to reduce unnecessary hospital transports from campus.

Parliamentarian Morgan Lingar ’13, a member of Colby Emergency Response (CER), noted that the number of unnecessary transports to the hospital is already low and that many people are escorted back to their rooms after CER and security officers have examined them.

Another alcohol-related topic included registering parties on campus. Since very few parties on campus are officially registered, SGA is searching for ways to make this more appealing to students. The registration process is designed to make the event in question safer and to prevent underage drinking. This system also places the responsibility of keeping party-goers safe on the College.

One suggested method for increasing the number of registered parties was to train certain students and employ them as party hosts throughout campus. This would allow students who choose not to drink the opportunity to earn money while keeping drinkers safe.

By the current system, registered party hosts are responsible for their own party and for ensuring that student identification is checked and that only students over 21 are served.

Publicity Chair Ray Rieling ’12 and Leonard Dorm President Phillip Hussey ’14 discussed techniques to better publicize SGA’s efforts to students.

“One of the roots of the problem is that, as an organization, we approach publicity very much like [the Student Programming Board] does, which we can’t do because...it’s hard to make a poster about what we do that says time, place, here’s what it is, here’s who should come,” Rieling said. “We’ve decided that we need to have less of a publicity mindset and more of a communication mindset.”

Recognizing that general announcements and e-mails do not result in considerable feedback, Rieling and Hussey suggested a movement towards alternative methods of communication. This could include placing SGA news on cards at dining hall tables where students can read them at meals. A second approach would be for dorm presidents to select certain constituents to help them complete a task. This would encourage greater involvement by students in SGA’s affairs.

All discussions at this meeting were preliminary steps in the process of making changes on the Hill this year. SGA continually seeks student input in its efforts so that it may best serve the student body.