About 14 Student Government Association members met with West Virginia University’s Resident Assistant Council Wednesday in a Speak Up event to discuss issues involving RAs.
Ideas involving recycling in residence halls, safety, and health and wellness were discussed at the meeting.
Recycling, specifically in light of the "Ecolympics," a competition to see which residence hall can recycle the most material, was discussed extensively at the meeting.
This year, the Ecolympics lasted throughout the month of October, but some RAs do not feel the campaign represents the full meaning of recycling.
"It’s not how much you throw away to recycle, it’s how much you hold on to recycle," said Honors Hall RA Jim Eakins.
He thought measuring the amount of trash thrown away compared to the amount of things recycled would the best way to measure recycling. Currently, the competition just measures the amount of recycled materials.
"You would get more of the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle,’" said Rachael Fitzwater, a Lincoln Hall RA. "Whereas, right now, we focus a lot on recycling but not so much on reducing and reusing."
Austin Rempel, an Honors Hall RA, thought recycling should be encouraged beyond the residence halls, and education should be available for students on the amount of money sustainable behavior can save.
RAs representing both Summit Hall and Honors Hall, located in Morgantown’s Sunnyside area, pressed for installation of more Blue Tower Emergency Phones, though Eakins suggested installing video cameras to catch those who push the buttons when no emergency is occurring.
Ian McCulloch, a former SGA governor, said some of WVU’s peer institutions have cameras and sound systems installed with their emergency systems.
"Say a student was in trouble and running from somebody – they would literally have to press a button and scream, ‘help, I need help,’ and run to the next unit and press it," he said. "The police can actually track them from that."
Lyon Tower RA PJ Holden proposed the idea that SGA members to which were most receptive: allowing outdoor equipment, such as footballs and basketballs, to be rented from the Mountainlair.
"I know if I’m in class and don’t have class right away, I could just go to the Mountainlair and check out a ball, and throw it around with one of my friends to pass the time," he said.
The bowling alley in the Mountainlair rents out chess sets, said Gov. Ron Cheng, who didn’t think it would be a big deal to rent outdoor equipment, too.
"That is one of the most creative ideas I’ve heard in a longtime," Cheng said.
Another idea brought up involving health and wellness was a downtown student recreation center.
SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters told the group there is a clause in the current Student Recreation Center’s plan saying once it breaks revenue from the cost of initiating it, the Rec will start funding a new center for downtown.
"It just hasn’t happened yet. They predicted around 10 years, and I think we’re around year eight or nine now," Peters said. "Once that happens, I know that’s not a solution for tomorrow, but there should be more funds that come available to put in a downtown rec."
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