President Barry Dunn stopped in at the Lewis and Clark Room and spoke to the Students’ Association in its fourth meeting of the year.
Dunn gave SA a report card which entailed items from the physical plan of the university to student life to community culture.
In 2016, SDSU started a campus climate survey, which values the overall climate on campus. The biannual survey is scheduled to take place this year.
“We need you to pound on your best friends and fill out this survey,” Dunn said.
That wasn’t the only issue Dunn spoke about.
Enrollment numbers were a point of discussion. According to Dunn, numbers from South Dakota high school students and international students are down, while more students from Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska are enrolling.
Dunn offered reasons for the decreasing enrollment.
“[It’s] much harder for international students to get student visas to come here than it was,” Dunn said. “We’ve lost several hundred international students in just 18 months.”
Dunn also added the 2018 class of South Dakota high school graduates was one of the smallest class in years.
Since the decreased enrollment – fewer credit hours are going to be taken, which will, in turn, affect the General Activity Fee (GAF).
“We’re going to get through it and turn this thing around,” Dunn said.
Sustainability has also been an area of emphasis on the SDSU campus in past years.
“We’ve increased square footage on campus and dropped our electricity consumption,” Dunn said.
Before finalizing his speech, Dunn offered three leadership to SA: courage, competence and vision.
During the Student Organization report, two clubs spoke.
The SDSU Geography Club spoke about their upcoming student-run convention in mid-March, the 50th South Dakota Geography Convention.
Another organization got their constitution approved- The Jackrabbit Baja SAE Club. The club is composed of mechanical engineers who will be tasked with putting together a single-seat vehicle to compete against 99 other schools while focusing on durability.
Next week, the Students’ Association will meet again at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 24, in the Lewis and Clark room in the upstairs of the Union.
