Tuesday night’s executive cabinet meeting was similar to most in all ways but one: This meeting took place in the basement of Thomas Cooper Library. Student Body President Luke Rankin scheduled the body to meet there in order to tour the library’s new fourth-floor study installations.
“I know that many of the students that are on cabinet were already able — and the cabinet secretaries — were already able to see the fourth floor,” Rankin said. “But to kind of have a walk-through, because we’ve talked about it all year long … I think making sure that we were able to show them that and physically be in the space was really important.”
The additions to the library, which were unveiled in late January, include climate controlled collaborative study pods, enclosed individual desks and open common areas.
Before the library tour could commence, though, the cabinet’s business had to be taken care of. On the docket for the meeting were several updates from the secretaries regarding their meetings from last week. Secretary of Diversity and Inclusion Darius York brought forward the fact that his committee had discussed legislation involving religious spaces on campus and the inclusion of preferred pronouns in spaces such as Blackboard.
Secretary of Community Relations Lisa Parker also discussed Blackboard, although in a different capacity. Earlier in the day, she had met with two officials from Blackboard who were conducting surveys across the USC system.
This meeting was conducted in order to discuss current problems involving Blackboard within the statewide USC system and to propose future solutions.
Issues the officials found with Blackboard across USC's system included a lack of knowledge of the changes occurring on Blackboard, as well as student difficulty accessing grades for current classes. Parker suggested that students become involved in implementing changes in technology at the university level.
“There could be a translation between what students want with Wifi and technology of Blackboard, and it can come over to student government, where we can talk to higher-ups, like technology support, stuff like that,” Parker said.
On Thursday, a governance meeting will be occurring where the findings of the Blackboard officials, as well as suggestions, will be discussed.