Town Hall Meeting

Town Hall Meeting

The Town Hall Meeting serves as a conference where many come together to address issues around college campus. Hosted by the Student Government Association, we’re all here to listen and discuss any topics. The speakers will first address the main topics of the meeting, and later move on to Open Discussion.

Different Abilities

Angela’s the first to come and address a special issue about students with disabilities, or what she calls it “different abilities.” There are students here in GCSC with different abilities, including mental and physical different abilities. Most of the students here are having complications because of these abilities, and require an accommodation to help make them comfortable enough to do their work.

There are solutions Angela explained to aid students with these different abilities. They can go to SAR, offer a documentation, and get an accommodation sheet signed. That way students could use essentials in helping them study for an exam such as a recording device or extra testing time for various tests. However, she mentioned that most of her professors doesn’t understand what these accommodations meant to them. They’re not allowed to ask about it for it’s a violation to the student’s privacy rights.

Angela thought it would be a neat idea to include an indication that she has some accommodations when registering classes. If they don’t know what those are, these professors can reach out to these students and schedule an appointment. It’s important because it takes off all the redundancy when meeting a new professor.

She mentioned that sharing sensitive information to new professor is difficult and intimidating. Without those accommodations, it’s harder for the student to receive enough time to study or finish their tests. These indications must be mentioned early so professors are aware of their different abilities.

Name Changes

Angela pointed out that transgender students are having a hard time getting their names changed. It’s not only costly, but these students are afraid to tell their family of their transsexualism.

For example; Christopher preferred to be called Christina. She shows up on the first day of class and will be going through roll call. She’s uncomfortable when raising her hand to inform her professor of her name preference. Being identified as a woman in a public classroom is not just mortifying, but makes them feel exposed.

With her preferred name shared to the whole class, she feared that she’ll be stigmatized. There will be some students and professors holding micro-aggression against a trans student. It’s important that these professors are told ahead of time before these students come to their first day of class. Some professors mentioned that it’s uncomfortable for them because they feel like they’re outing their students.

Having these indicated will help many students and professors. Students with different religions should be able to use this feature because of their practices.

Angela went to Dr. Lavender and explained these issues, and she find this solution possible. Good news is that a new update is coming that will allow students to list their preferred name and pronouns. However it’s the student’s responsibility to change it. They need to go to SAR every semester and say they have a piece of accommodation to change. It’s still under research, but soon such an option will come under public light.

Menstruation Problem

Brittany Peacock is next on the discussion panel, talking about periods. She talks about a situation involving a female student from a high school group from Georgia. During the executive board meeting, she got a knock on the door. It was a man who works at the bookstore with a female high school student. She started her period unexpectedly while she’s not even in her state.

They came to the SGA because they’re having a female hygiene donation drive to help homeless women. Since the young woman’s flow was so heavy, she had to change clothes. However, thanks to Charles Dixon, he’s there to help out with new clothes from the clothing closet.

This brings up to the topic of what happens if it’s one of GCSC’s students. Where will they go? These incidents happen at any time without warning, much to their dismay. Brittany suggested in implementing female hygiene products in all female bathrooms for no charge. No one should have their dignity compromised because of menstruation.

Campus Community

Finally, the last speaker to go up the podium is Stephanie, the current President of SGA. She speaks of the importance of creating a campus community that keeps students engage on campus. By keeping them involved on campus, it provides them tools to do more productive things.

It’s the SGA’s mission to give the students as much knowledge and power to steer them into success. To get the campus involved, the SGA has hosted a plethora of Lunch and Learns. They’ve offered extracurricular activities, and created a sense of community through their events.

Making the events not only inclusive, but relatable, they’ve discovered that this is the best way to reach college students. These events help students learn important life skills outside the classroom. They’ve done numerous surveys and had received overwhelmingly positive reviews.

One of the major dilemmas they’ve found is the busy schedule from their peers. When the classes are back-to-back, they lose their chance to create a connection with college campus. They lose the capability to impact these students with life-changing opportunities.

Having uninterrupted time during the day, they provide the chance to plan an event for students to participate these activities. They’re asking to bring back the opportunity to see the activity hour brought back. With this, events provided by the SGA, Corporate College, Commodores Cares, the Dive program, and much more can bring the campus community together.

Bringing back the activity hour will help students grow a friendship with their fellow classmates. The campus is going through heavy renovations with future plans to create places for students to relax and interact. It’s key to have a welcoming atmosphere upon Gulf Coast State College. The SGA is willing to make the college community a better place.

Conclusion

The issues discussed within the Town Meeting Hall is understandable. I’m glad they’re taking into account on implementing a system letting students enter their “different abilities.” Not only that, but also allowing students gain accommodations to help them study. The name change and pronouns is also an issue that I’m glad they’re finally tackling. With this way, many transgender students will breathe a sigh of relief without feeling outed on their first day.

The menstruation problem is something I didn’t expect, but also acknowledged that they’re doing something to prevent any future situations. This sort of problem can happen any time, anywhere, and at any age. It’s actually terrifying to be perfectly honest, and I’m proud they’ve come across this issue.

For many students, there’s barely any breathing room for them after coming out of class. It can be stressful and frustrating, feeling like there’s no rest in between class times. Re-introducing the activity hour could bolster enough activity for students to interact. As the college campus grows, it’s best to keep the campus community strong and interactive.

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