The Dixie State University campus is occupied once again after the holiday break, and DSU Student Association is excited to feed off the momentum of the fall semester to create a spring semester students will never forget.
Student Body President Carlos Morgan deemed the fall 2013 semester successful as three specific goals were reached by December.
The first goal the DSUSA yearned to achieve was to establish a tobacco-free campus. The Dixie State board of trustees voted to ban tobacco from campus Nov. 22, and the new policy effectively rids the campus of all tobacco products.
“That was a big step forward for Dixie, and … we’re the first public university in the state of Utah to actually have something like that on campus,” Morgan said. “It feels like things are moving forward in a very positive way.”
The second goal student government strived for was to reach out to students to receive their input on campus decisions, such as upcoming events and activities. Morgan said this strategy helped student government plan an effective and desirable spring break party and concert for DSU students. He said students were emailed and polled in various places, and student government received about 1300 responses.
“It was good to have that backing up (the fact) we are doing what students want,” Morgan said.
The third goal that was reached was the effort of making St. George a college town. To attain this goal, DSUSA worked with local businesses to develop and promote student discounts. Those businesses currently display signs that advertise student discounts. Morgan said there are still a few businesses student government is following up on, but he is happy with the result of developing a college town.
The main goal DSUSA hopes to obtain this semester is creating more spirit on campus. Student government has plans throughout the semester, and Morgan believes a big attribution to the increase will be the pep rally during the Week of Welcome.
“It’ll be a joint effort where we’re going to invite students to come and learn new cheers,” Morgan said. “We’ll learn the cheers so we know how to do them when the games roll around, and we can focus more on getting people out to those (games) and filling the stands and get an excited student section.”
Morgan also said there are three initiatives that are in the works, and he said he is hoping to get those projects started, and possibly finished, by the end of the semester.
The first initiative is improving Wi-Fi on campus. Morgan said this is a goal because students are having issues with connection and speed. The second initiative is remodeling the Red Rock Cafe. Morgan said it has come to DSUSA’s attention that it is becoming an issue on campus. The third initiative is having problems fixed that occur in the testing center.
These initiatives have not been in effect, but Morgan said he is hoping they will be accomplished by the end of the semester.
“Some of it depends on funding, (and) some of it depends on when we can sit down and hash out the plans for it,” Morgan said.
Jordyn Hanevold, vice president of student life and a senior communication major from Logandale, Nev., said a positive change this semester is the additional positions to student government. These are service positions that deal specifically with events and publicizing. She said the DSUSA has a goal of developing more of a service aspect for the school.
Morgan said the “We Are Dixie” theme is something DSUSA is living by this semester because school spirit is a priority, and Morgan wants students to be proud of their school.
“We want students to come out more,” Morgan said. “We want students to participate. We’re going to make the activities exciting, and we want to make sure that the experiences we’re going to have next semester is not only what students want, but is memorable as well.”
