By Jared Crain, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
It is no mystery that talk of the dining hall wiggles its way into student conversations, whether it takes the form of praises, complaints or general culinary gossip.
The issue with such informal criticism on the state of affairs in Dhall is that often it is not brought to the attention of those who could consider issues and make changes.
Because of this, one of several new SGA committees has been deemed the Dhall committee.
SGA President Tedric Palmer explained that this committee’s goal is to increase productive communication among students and staff on the subject of the dining hall.
“The dining hall is a huge topic of conversation year after year, so having a group that can become a mainstay to help with the void in communication is extremely important,” Palmer said. “Fraser Pearson, who is the Aramark representative for us, is excited about what he can do to for the betterment of students.”
SGA plans to equip the Dhall committee with ten members, who represent different facets of the student body.
Representatives will include the four class secretaries, two head residents, one Berry athlete and three members from the general student body.
“An athlete may have a different perspective than say, a student of the body with a different type of meal plan,” said SGA Vice President of Administration Preston Putnam. “This will certainly change the format for Dhall discussion for the better.”
SGA Secretary Kassie Jones added that Pearson himself will serve as head of the committee. She explained that any student can express interest in sitting on the committee in one of the student body representative positions, assuming they have adequate conduct.
“We look for evenness across all boards: grades, class, major, extracurricular experience and more,” Jones said concerning body representatives.
This student conduct criteria also applies to students who express interest in sitting on other committees, like the SGA Constitution Committee, which Jones explained will serve to update the constitution and by-laws so that they keep up with the times in language, style and purpose.
Putnam mentioned some other committees that are also intended to alleviate any gaps in communication among students and administration.
These brand new committees include the Budget and Finance Committee (BFC), which will be made up of class treasurers and Putnam himself. A Cultural Event (C.E.) committee will help facilitate cultural events and a Special Projects Committee will oversee special projects like the bike station repairs of last year and will consist of class vice presidents.
Dean of Students Debbie Heida said SGA is working on announcing the members of the different committees.
“We’ve been talking about how we can get the word out about what students are representing the student body on committees,” Heida said. “We want students to know who they can talk to about a variety of issues.”