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ASG weighs in on new legislation, vote on horizon

Kathleen Clyburn, For The Miami Student

The Associated Student Government (ASG) met Tuesday to discuss two new pieces of legislation.

The first piece, a resolution supporting the creation of a first-year experience course, would implement a new one-credit-hour mandatory course for first-year students.

Authors of the resolution, senior Secretary for On-Campus Affairs Cole Tyman, sophomore Secretary for Academic Affairs Dan Stewart and sophomore senator Steve Bowersox, said they believe the course would be an effective way to help first-year students understand the resources Miami offers, ultimately increasing university retention and graduation rates.

"The goal of the course is really just to provide first-year students with the knowledge of the resources to be successful here," Tyman said. "It will really increase their chances to succeed."

Sophomore senator Katie Caprez said she was concerned about the format of the class, asking how it will be different or similar to other classes, such as Living Learning Community (LLC) courses.

"We've been looking at a lot of different courses around the university that have kind of taught in this fashion," Tyman said in response. "For example, the College of Engineering has a course that is required of all first year students, so we've been looking at courses like that to get ideas."

Tyman also mentioned that many other universities and institutions have mandatory first-year experience courses.

Later in the meeting, the bill creating a student and alumni involvement database was presented to senate. The bill discussed would create a database comprised of Miami alumni and their contact information. The purpose of the database is to allow easy access to alumni so university members can reach them and request their time and possible donations.

Author of the bill, senior Secretary for Alumni Affairs Conor Nelson, said he believes the database will help link current students with alumni more easily, helping them maximize their resources and connections for the future.

"The need for this database is huge," Nelson said. "Right now we only track varsity and Greek Life alumni, other than that no other alumni are tracked."

Junior senator Max Smith said he had some concerns about the cost of the project to create a database.

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"The cost has been quoted as only $400 for the entire project and it will bring in thousands and thousands of dollars from alumni donations every month," Nelson said.

Senate will vote on both pieces of legislation at next week's meeting.