The Associated Students of Mills College (ASMC) hosted their last open forum/meeting for the fall semester on Nov. 25, with around 18 ASMC members in attendance and no other community members. President Meghan Hinsch was unable to attend, so the meeting was run by Vice President Deborah Gartside.
One of the discussions held during the open forum was about the recent event that the ASMC executive board attended called the American Student Goverment Association Conference in Los Angeles, where they met over 100 students from other colleges’ student government. ASGA holds several annual conferences throughout the United States that help student government members develop plans to improve their organization and provide networking opportunities.
Student Services Chair Mel Petricko presented updates about the Sustainability Committee, which works to promote environmentally sustainable practices across campus, and their hopes to address student concerns regarding the Mills shuttle service, particularly the shuttle schedule. Recently, students have been pushing to have the shuttle run later to provide students safe transportation to and from campus on the weekends. According to Petricko, in order for the shuttle to run later, it would have to start later as well to allow for “budget-neutral” changes, or changes that will not cost the school more money. Petricko has received feedback from various students and community members but still hopes to receive more feedback from commuter students via email regarding the shuttle schedule.
During the meeting, ASMC also discussed how its members can learn from student government organizations at other institutions.
“We can always use ideas from other [student governments] to enrich ours,” Gartside said.
