Jan. 24, 2023 — At last Tuesday’s meeting, USG confirmed two new members: Justice John Lamberger and Executive Chair of Club Athletics and Recreation Pierce Rockwell. Along with committee updates, Kennedy Mountain Campus and the 4D experience were discussed in the meeting.
The meeting began with a presentation from 4D Project Manager Greg Mahan. A research center on paper, the 4D team has “a background of higher education, study and research,” according to Mahan. With this experience, the three full-time employees are focused on collaborating with a wide variety of entities around DU’s campus, including the Career Center and USG.
High-impact practices, which are a framework of ideas that bolster the education of college students, are the theoretical background that the 4D team implements. Concepts like capstone courses, first-year seminars and living-learning communities are all products of these high-impact practices, promoting student engagement as well as further educational development
Focusing on delivering a holistic experience to students at the University of Denver, Mahan emphasized the “First Ascent” to Kennedy Mountain Campus as the primary focus of the 4D team. Since the 2022-23 academic year marked the initialization of the First Ascent program, the 4D team is in the process of acquiring feedback from first-year students and adapting and tweaking the programming to better enhance the student experience.
Chair of Kennedy Mountain Campus Relations Olivia Crimaldi briefly presented on the goals of the administration, including the formation of a student advisory council. Opening the door for senators to make connections, Crimaldi advocated for heightened student consultation on decisions related to the Mountain Campus, including clubs and other registered student organizations.
Crimaldi requested student opinions on a fourth-year retreat in the spring to the Kennedy Mountain Campus after the administration received feedback from parents whose students were never provided with the opportunity to make their First Ascent. While there was general support for the measure in the meeting, USG Senators will be tabling this week to receive feedback from the wider student body.
Wednesday’s Undergraduate Senate meeting saw no report from the judicial branch of USG, beginning the internal proceeding with a report from the Executive Branch. On Tuesday, the Executive meeting hosted Ex Officio Presentations, receiving updates from prominent RSOs, including the DU Programming Board, the Student Athletic Council, the DU Student Foundation and the DU Clarion.
USG President Abbie McAdams highlighted the ongoing achievements of her new CurVa initiative, a pilot program to compensate senators as well as chairs of the Executive branch for their student leadership. Among the program’s fellows are Director of Student Experience Madeline Bohn and Chair of 4D Relations Naya Ogbonna-Ukuku, who coordinated Mahan’s presentation.
Sen. Tyler Miller and Sen. Hyde received resounding applause for their project to expand the opening hours of the Ritchie Center, which received positive feedback from Chancellor Jeremy Haefner.
President McAdams and Vice President Shreya Surendra discussed the revival of a “Book Back” program put into motion by USG Alumni, allowing students to donate textbooks to the bookstore to ‘be bought back.’ This year, McAdams and Surendra voiced the potential to coordinate with the center for sustainability and allow the books to circulate into the free book fair that the center hosts.
USG appointed and confirmed two new members to their ranks, Bills 59 and 60 both passing with 20 votes in favor of the appointments with one abstention.
Bill 59, authored by Pro Tempore Chris Crosby, confirmed Pierce Rockwell as the Executive Chair of Club Athletics and Recreation. During the period for discussion and questions, Rockwell expressed concern for third- and fourth-year students who entered the club sport scene during the height of the pandemic. The newly confirmed Chair vowed to promote student involvement by reaching students off-campus and continuing to support on-campus involvement.
Freshman Sen. Dylan Lindsey asked if Rockwell would work with USG’s Title IX Chair to “ensure that students are feeling comfortable and feeling safe.” Rockwell admitted that he had not considered that, but he would seek mutual inclusion within the club sport and intramural domain.
Bill 60, also authored by Sen. Crosby, confirmed John Lamberger as a Justice on USG’s Supreme Court. In the period for discussion and debate, Sen. Crosby asked Justice Lamberger, “why do ethics matter in [the] judicial branch?”
“What are ethics?” Justice Lamberger responded, half tongue-in-cheek, inciting scattered laughs within the chamber. “Ethics, to me, are the collective morals of a community. What are laws? Laws are just encoded ethics, basically. So, let’s write that down: laws, ethics, morals. What are morals? Morals are things we learn throughout our life that [determine] how we survive as people. Did I answer your question?” he continued.
“More than I thought it would,” responded Sen. Crosby.
Receiving endorsements from President McAdams, Justice Primus Nina Morgenstein, and Sen. Kenna Stephen, Justice Lamberger was pressed on his background by Sen. Andrew Erickson.
“I was in the military for four years,” said Justice Lamberger. “That instilled in me an actual sense of community. People throw that line around, but I really got [it] from the ground, just people trying to get by, people from all walks of life. And a lot of times they were not heard or ignored, and that’s awful. We’re all very different, but I truly want to be a platform for people to have power. It’s all about power.”
