Student Government will host its first town hall meeting of the semester on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Student Senate Chambers in room 4140 in the Talley Student Union.
Thursday’s town hall is focused on answering the question “What can student government do for you?” Paul Nolan, the student body president and senior studying materials science and engineering, said that this first meeting is there to inform people of the benefits of Student Government.
“This one will be more informational,” Nolan said. “Myself and other leaders will be talking more than we would like to be. Students can still come and can ask questions.“
According to Nolan, the goal of these meetings is to get the student body to engage with its student representatives and open a dialogue between the two.
“These meetings are a physical place for students to go and express their concerns, ideas and initiatives,” Nolan said. “The purpose, in essence, is to make sure that students can come and have a representative listen to them. It’s another way for students to have a voice.”
According to the Student Government website, the town halls will take place monthly, and each meeting will have a different theme that reflects the concerns of the campus community. Nolan said that while some themes are meant to open discussion and debate, others are there to inform the student body of topics that they may not be clear on.
Mitchell Moravec, a senior studying psychology and student senate president pro tempore, said that he believes the dialogue between the students and Student Government have been the greatest benefit of hosting them so far.
“They get conversations started,” Moravec said. “While the action items that came up from the meetings were definitely important, the conversations between students and Student Government were great.”
Last year, a series of town halls were held in order to address issues of racial climate after a number of incidents at other universities and an off-campus “CMT v. BET” party that many NC State students felt was in poor taste.
This year’s town halls will cover a variety of topics including diversity and racial climate on campus, student health, sexual assault, a look into some university departments and a forum discussing Chancellor Randy Woodson, according to the schedule posted on the Student Government webpage. On top of the scheduled town halls, Student Government said it is prepared to host an emergency town hall meeting should a student-related emergent issue arise on campus.
One topic that Nolan said raised some eyebrows was the proposed town hall discussion about Woodson. According to Nolan, the chancellor will be at the meeting to answer students’ questions regarding his role at the university.
“General topics are always great, but sometimes we just have unanswered questions,” Nolan said. “Chancellor Woodson will be in attendance and he will answer students’ questions. The students don’t always directly understand what his role is. It’ll be a dialogue-focused discussion.”
Nolan believes that these town halls are going to be instrumental in setting up a much-needed conduit between students and the administration.
“I’d encourage anyone come out,” Nolan said. “If you’re passionate about a subject, prioritize getting out. Obviously class takes precedent, but know your voice has value.”
