Administration gathering feedback on time between classes

Student+Government+meets+every+Wednesday+at+the+Memorial+Union.

Katherine Kealey

Student Government meets every Wednesday at the Memorial Union.

The time between classes has been 15 minutes all days, all periods since the pandemic hit in 2020. The university asked for feedback from Student Government on a potential change.

Associate Provost for Academic Provost Ann Marie VanDerZanden asked Student Government President Jacob Ludwig, senior in economics, and Vice President Jaden Ahlrichs, senior in global resource systems, to gather feedback from their peers.

The feedback requested is regarding Monday, Wednesday and Friday passing times. Currently, every class period Monday through Friday has 15 minutes before the next period starts. VanDerZanden’s office is considering changing Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes to a 10-minute passing time. Ten minutes passing times are not new, though, and used prior to the pandemic.

Tuesday and Thursday classes would not be affected, keeping the 15-minute passing time, Ahlrichs said.

Ahlrichs asked the Senate for their personal feedback and asked members of the body for an “informal raising of the placard” to gather feedback.

With the ten-minute passing time schedule, classes would start at 8 AM and finish at 9 PM. Currently, Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes start at 7:45 AM and finish at 8:40 PM.

Feedback from the body included concerns about CyRide bus capacity being able to accommodate the condensed class schedule, being able to walk from class to class in time and time to talk with professors before and after class.

The two executives were asked to respond to VanDerZanden by Monday.

During his weekly update, Ludwig shared that the Board of Regents recently added $1 million to their proposed budget for mental health resources for regent institutions.

The remainder of the meeting was confirmation bills, all of which passed.

Charles Taylor, junior in physics, was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice during the meeting.

“It’s come to my attention that most people don’t know there is a [Student Government] Supreme Court,” Taylor said during his confirmation.

Madeline Becker, sophomore in economics, was confirmed as the Collegiate Panhellenic Council senator.

Going into the meeting, Becker was a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator. Due to a lack of response from the CPC community to fill the vacant senate seat, Becker filled the seat.

This move allowed for the LAS seat to open up, which is a seat that has students interested.

Quinn Margrett, freshman in pre-business, was confirmed as an at-large member of the local affairs committee.

The local affairs committee primarily works closely with and lobby’s the government of the city of Ames and Story County on issues and topics that affect students, according to the Operating Rules of the Senate.

Alex Almquist, junior in political science, was confirmed as the vice election commissioner.

Sundar Shivraj, senior in computer science, was confirmed as a senator on the public relations committee.

Next week, the Senate will see a funding bill for the Pakistan Student Association.