WVU, community relations to be discussed Tuesday

Strengthening the relationship between Morgantown and West Virginia University is the goal of the Student Government Association State of the Student Body Address.

Earlier this week, SGA President Chris Lewallen announced he would attend the Sept. 7 City Council meeting to deliver the message of more student involvement in the community.

"We just need to partner with the council and anyone else we can to make sure that the student voice is brought into those decisions," Lewallen said in an earlier statement.

Building a stronger relationship between the city and students would bring the University up to par with other colleges WVU's size, such as Pittsburgh University in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh and Auburn University, said SGA Chief-of-Staff Daniel Brummage.

"The relations between those universities and those towns, it's not the town and the University – it's one," Brummage said. "We're not just here to party, go to classes and come downtown on weekends. We are responsible young adults, we are getting an education and gaining experiences."

WVU students need to learn the experience of living in a community, he said.

SGA City Council Liaison Nelson France said he would be announcing the formation of a community relations team.

The team's purpose would be to attend various city commissions and committees such as the Pedestrian Safety Board and the Green Team.

Brummage said most of SGA's previous projects focused on the Sunnyside neighborhood. With the team's creation, SGA can better listen and relay information on other neighborhood associations such as Greenmont and Suncrest.

The members of the community relations team will be "SGA veterans," made up of former governors and executives, France said. They will be appointed and assigned to committees before Oct. 1, he said.

Also to be discussed in France's address is the need for better branding of WVU within the city and increasing street signs, he said.

"When we have prospective students coming to campus, and they get here, and they can't ever get around campus because there's no street signs, that's an issue," he said. "When you come to campus and you don't even know you're on WVU's campus, that's an issue."

Placing more adequate signs in locations around campus would let visitors know they are near the University, he said. Working with WVU Branding and Marketing would help to include more gold and blue around the city, he said.

France said he has spoken to City Council about the address and has cleared everything that will be discussed. Nothing will be a surprise to them, he said.