The Notre Dame student senate gathered Wednesday for a presentation from the Center of Student Support and Care and to pass an amendment to the constitution concerning the campus life council.
Senior student body vice president Sarah Galbenski opened the meeting with a few housekeeping announcements about the Student Union transition under the new student body president and vice president and the next meeting for the student advisory group for campus reopening, which, Galbenski said, will hopefully include updates about the University’s status as a vaccination center.
Margaret Morgan, director of the Center of Student Support and Care (CSSC), then began her presentation with an overview of the CSSC, which links Sara Bea facilities with Care and Wellness Consultants.
“Integrating them both into one space is something that we’re really excited about because it allows us to offer more support for students directly,” Morgan said. “It also gives us a little bit of cross-collaboration and an ability to really serve students and help make sure people get the resources that they need and the connection they need.”
Morgan said she is particularly passionate about one of the CSSC’s new initiatives, which is having a staff member wholly dedicated to students who may benefit from specific support, such as those going through a withdrawal process or re-admitted students, as well as creating programming aimed at those students.
The CSSC is working on identifying other specific student groups that would benefit from intentional programming or workshops in addition to what is currently available.
The CSSC offers individual care, accessibility support both in and out of the classroom, a variety of workshops primarily focusing on academic skills, individual academic coaching, wellness consultations and a variety of other resources, Morgan said.
“There’s a whole series of workshops that we’ve created,” she said. “We’ve been able to create some more offerings besides just one-on-one meetings, which I’m really excited about.”
The CSSC website launched last week, Morgan said, and features direct one-on-one appointment scheduling.
After opening up the discussion for questions, Galbenski asked about concerns she had heard about transportation to and from quarantine locations. Morgan said the University offers transportation for on-campus students, especially if requested, including a recently opened shuttle that stops at every quarantine location, but transportation for off-campus students is not currently offered.
“One of the things that I would love for students to always know is that the Care and Concern team line is there for when students feel like they don’t know who to call or what’s going on,” Morgan said.
Next, the senate voted to swear in Bridget Arbuckle, sophomore, as a Cavanaugh Hall senator for the rest of the 2020-2021 term.
After some debate, the senate then voted to amend the constitution to reflect changes to the campus life council.
Although the senate planned to discuss resolutions on recent adjustments to campus life policies, requesting a full-day observance of MLK Day and requesting benchmarks for COVID-19 protocols, they were pushed to next week in the interest of keeping the meeting on time.
“I cross my fingers that [senate] is in person next week, but I will keep you all posted,” Galbenski said in closing.
