New revisions discussed for Boomerang shuttle

The Student Senate discussed several preliminary revisions to UNC’s Boomerang Shuttle service during Wednesday’s meeting. The modifications could add additional stops to the current route and begin an evening service from the university campus to several locations throughout Greeley.

“We’re really trying to work with the student body, so we can match the services with their needs,” Student Body President Justin Puckett said. “We really have to find out what students want and what is cost effective, because I do not feel comfortable paying $100 an hour for one student to ride the bus.”

Puckett said the results of an 800-person evaluation were taken into account when he and the Greeley-Evans Transit members drafted the preliminary proposal, which asked for suggestions of possible revisions to the current service. Under the current proposal, two routes — aptly named Blue and Gold — would be created to increase the amount of service routes to both on-campus and off-campus sites.

The proposed Blue route would have stops located at Gunter Hall, Cranford Place between 12th and 13th avenues, Candelaria Hall and the University of Northern Colorado Transfer Center that would be built near the University Center’s loading dock.

Meanwhile, the proposed Gold route would have stops at the UNC Transfer Center, Arlington Park Student Apartments, Gunter Hall, Ninth Avenue and 16th Street, Kepner Hall, and Tobey-Kendal Hall, and West Campus residence complex. In addition to the Blue and Gold routes, the proposal also outlined the creation of two evening routes labeled as the North/Downtown Loop and the South/University Square Loop.

Because contract negotiations are still ongoing, Puckett said costs for the new service routes have not been determined. He also said he would meet with Greeley-Evans Transit members some time next week to discuss issues and concerns raised by Senate members, who provided constructive criticism during Wednesday’s presentation.

“I want the routes to reflect the interests of the students instead of what the city may want, because at the end of the day, we’re going to be the ones writing the check for it,” Student Trustee Matt VanDriel said.

Maggie Wright, the College of Educational and Behavioral Sciences representative, said the route should not be altered significantly from the beginning.

“My biggest concern is that if we start changing the route too much or changing the times specifically, I’m afraid that it’s going to become too confusing,” Wright said.

However, Wright also said the proposal resolved several longstanding issues raised by students.

“I do agree that we should probably keep the service during peak times, so we can have a more consistent flow and that we’re keeping up with the supply and demand,” Wright said.

-- originally published in The Mirror on March 5, 2010

Senate approves poll verbiage on election ballot

The Student Senate unanimously approved the verbiage of an opinion poll on Wednesday that will appear on this year’s ballot for Student Senate positions.

According to University Relations director Ryan Shucard, the full details of the ballot issue, the Quality of Life Act, will not be released to the public until election commissioner Michael Goldstein releases the entire ballot on Mar. 22.

However, according to the approved verbiage of the opinion poll, the Quality of Life Act would be sponsored through several different campus organizations to enhance the services that they already provide and increase the scope of these services to offer students a broader range of options. Among these services, the Quality of Life Act is seeking to improve and revitalize the current transportation services provided to students, while promoting outdoor activities through the increased provision of rental equipment.

Student Senate president Justin Puckett said the Quality of Life Act arose from student input that was directed to several different campus organizations and committees that ultimately banded together to create certain provisions in the act. If the opinion poll produces favorable results by the student body in this year’s Student Senate elections, Puckett said the Quality of Life Act would be presented to the UNC Board of Trustees for its final approval. Puckett also said the Quality of Life Act could be in effect as early as the fall semester if the UNC Board of Trustees approves it.

Day-in-the-life Story

For my day-in-the-life story, I decided to follow Ryan Joy, the director of Legislative Affairs, to detail his involvement in the Student Senate as well as several other academic and social outlets at the University of Northern Colorado.

The most difficult part of this assignment was maintaining a flexible schedule throughout the assignment. My original assignment for this story was to cover a student rally being organized by Joy on behalf of the Associated Students of Colorado, a student-run association that is seeking to advocate for increases in higher education funding for universities throughout Colorado. However, this assignment changed just before the deadline, as Joy was unable to organize the rally at UNC. So, at the last minute, I decided to write a day-in-the-life story that focused on him and his efforts to further this cause at UNC.

The easiest part of the assignment was getting together with Joy, who provided me with a majority of the background information that I needed for the assignment. Since this story mainly focused on Joy as a person – both in Student Senate and as a normal college student – a bulk of the information for my story derived from face-to-face interviews that I conducted with him, although much of the additional information about ASC’s rally was garnered from information that I gathered at prior Student Senate meetings.

The most enjoyable part of this assignment was following Joy through his daily routine and taking meticulous notes detailing his actions and surroundings. This experience allowed me to notice the small details that have the ability to transport the reader into the context of the story and them a more personal reading experience.

About this blog

The purpose of this blog is to discuss the various issues that are being addressed by the Student Senate at the University of Northern Colorado and inform the student body of the decisions that are made, which will ultimately affect them and their college experience.

I have three years of journalism experience working as a staff writer for The Mirror, where I covered various events and beats, including the Student Senate. In addition, I was selected for an internship with the Asian American Journalists’ Association and worked as an intern at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for nearly four months, where I covered topics and events that required a significant amount of investigative reporting.

I believe that there is always room for self-improvement, because the field of journalism is constantly changing though the development of new methods to disseminate information more quickly and efficiently. As I have learned in my Advanced News and Feature Writing class, blogs have developed into an essential news source because reporters are able to readily send out information while the story is happening; however, I think that this new mode of new reporting will prove to be challenging for me because I have never used blogs to post stories prior to this class.