Moody, Niles evaluate past year at AS helm

By Sarah Maciel

As their term comes to a close, Associated Students President Jenny Moody and Vice President Julia Niles are proud of increasing student safety by improving lighting around campus and creating more coherent forums for students to voice concerns, accomplishments which they credit to their existing relationships with students and university administrators upon taking office.

"Julia and I had a huge advantage coming in because we knew a lot of administrators and students. These relationships have been a huge help," Moody said.

As representatives of the student body, much of the tasks involved communicating and working closely with faculty and staff, Moody and Niles said.

"The way things happen on this campus is not based on your position on an organizational chart," said Jon Gray, director for the Center of Student Leadership and staff advisor for AS. "Things happen on this campus because people build personal relationships."

These personal relationships involve those with students as well.

Moody said as a student, she never felt as if AS was reaching out to her, something she hoped to change during her administration. One of their projects was the Be Heard campaign, which allows students to voice their comments, suggestions and/or concerns via the ASSCU Web site, Facebook and paper slips.

In the past, Moody explained, AS has tried to publicize their accomplishments and plans to the student body.

However, this year, Moody felt it was important to satisfy the needs of students rather than concentrating on displaying their efforts.

"We aren't doing it for the praise," said Moody. "As long as the people within the organization are listening to their constituencies and making change, that is all that matters to me."

A main point on the Moody-Niles platform was student safety. Throughout the year, lights have been fixed across campus to ensure proper lighting during night hours.

Lighting has also been installed in the back of Benson Memorial Center, around the interim library and around construction areas on campus.

AS and student representatives are petitioning to obtain an all-weather track on campus. However, questions have been brought up about the ideal location and if enough students would use it to justify the cost.

The organization has also been working with the community, the administration and Campus Safety to improve the safety of cross walks around campus.

Based on concerns brought forth by AS and students, the university is working with an architect to design a multipurpose room that will expand the amount of space on campus for late-night programming.

Niles and Moody also organized a lunch for student representatives from each class to meet with University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., and discuss campus issues.

While personal relationships have been an asset to this year's administration, they haven't been the solution for all concerns.

"Some of the challenges this year have been funding," Moody said. "Club sports: I would like to see them get more money. We've written resolutions, challenged athletics, tried to give them money through loopholes, support, manpower, etc. It's about athletics stepping up. Somewhere within the university someone has to support the groups."

Others said Moody and Niles' pre-existing close relationships with administrators may have made it harder for them to take strong stances on certain issues.

"This administration was experienced and established important relationships with a range of faculty and administrators well before they took office," said Director of First Year Programs Tim Haskell. "Some saw this as a strength because they were able to immediately work toward accomplishing their platform. Others saw this as a weakness because they were too close to university administration and did not challenge them appropriately. There could be truth in both statements."

Moody and Niles hope they have left their successors with an organization focused on student advocacy and creating change to better student life.

To their successors, Moody said, "Listen to the students. Change will be made -- if you're going to run you are already passionate enough to make change. The most important thing is to hear out the students on campus whether it is a large or small complaint whether you agree or not. It's a good feeling."

Contact Sarah Maciel at (408) 554-4546 or smaciel@scu.edu.