The Student Government Association talked about topics such as VSU’s brand new task force, spring break scheduling conflicts and HallNet issues during its meeting Monday at 8 p.m., in the University Center Magnolia Room.

The task force intends to transform VSU’s image from just a “school in South Georgia,” Vice President Derika Powers said.

VSU Interim President Dr. Louis Levy has requested that the task force put together a proposal addressed to various research companies.

“We would tell them what results we want, and they would tell us how we are going to get them,” Powers said.

“Our main goal is to know what VSU’s institutional identity is going to be and to have a solid tag line that is universal so that everyone can associate with VSU.”

VSU’s current tag lines are “Simply a Great Choice” and the Admission department’s “Do More, Become More.”

Powers also said that this new institutional identity would inspire support from the school’s alumni.

“It would also bring loyalty from our alumni and our donors,” she said.

“Without our donors and alumni support, we would not be able to do a lot of things we do because they donate a lot of money every year.”

Powers went on to say that the research company hired would put out focus groups and surveys to be completed by VSU students.

“They are going to take all the input from students, and that is how they are going to decide what our reputation is now, what we are seen as, and what we think of ourselves.”

Also on the budget was the topic of spring break.

SGA Comptroller Drew McCall brought up the matter of a discrepancy involving spring break for the school and spring break for those in the Valdosta and Lowndes school systems.

“We have a lot of students that are doing their student teaching during that time, and because of that they have to take their spring break with the Valdosta or Lowndes County or other school systems in the area,” he said.

McCall suggested requesting the school systems to moving their spring break or maybe VSU moving its spring break to meet both needs.

Also brought up was the desire for a ban on smoking on campus.

“Seeing that the student body wants a smoking ban, I think we should make legislation for that so it can be inserted for the upcoming election,” Senator Samuel Logan said.

Logan also mentioned the perceived lack of parking spots compared to students on campus.

“With us being SGA, it seems that every concern with parking and transit always gives us an excuse as to why we can’t get our view across,” he said. “The first issue always is parking, and they always insist that we have enough.”

Logan went on to stress the need for more parking.

“Every time school starts, we increase student population, but parking does not, and they still insist on saying we have enough, but clearly we don’t,” he said.

Logan believes this could also affect the turnout at campus events.

“A lot of people come to campus for events at 7 p.m., and they might park in a 45-minute parking spot, so if they are going around ticketing people, that just takes away from people actually coming to events on campus.”

According to Logan, the problem was getting their opinions heard.

“I want to know how we can voice our opinions to getting them to change our policies.”

Powers then asked that the senators write their proposals and problems with Parking and Transportation and send them to Senator Dustin Patton.

The recent HallNet outages were also discussed. For more detail, see HallNet Outages Spark Outrage.

SGA holds it meetings every Monday at 8 p.m., in the University Center Magnolia Room.

For more information on VSU’s Student Government Association, see their website at valdosta.edu/studentaffairs/sga/.