Josh Sedarski & Sophia Hamann

Community building

When events occur that harm our friends and peers, it’s important to rally behind them in support. This cannot happen unless there is a basic empathy towards one another, which is achieved when we are open to coming together in welcoming spaces to share ourselves and experiences with each other. These initiatives are incredibly important.

Administrative accountability

Insofar as when administrative initiatives misalign with the values of the student body, we would be willing to exercise HUSC and HUSC funds to communicate the values of the student body to the board and administration. While it’s important to work
with administration to achieve a better Hamline, it’s also important to be critical of the decisions they make that may harm students.

Improving accessibility

We have heard that it would be extremely difficult to make buildings more accessible. This is simply not good enough. The student body has already expressed their desire for improved campus accessibility with resolutions in previous years, one of which was for a ramp to be installed outside of West Hall, which, to this day, has not been implemented. We cannot claim to be open to all unless we are accessible to all.

Sustainable policy changes

Conversations are a very important part of generating community. However, what happens when people graduate and conversations end? To address this, we would like to see changes in university policy that bake the importance of community into our core values.

Abi Grace Mart and Travis Matthews

Fostering a Relationship/Community between Administration/Faculty and
Students

In recent years a gap has grown between administration and students. Too many students are unaware of who is really here to support them. Both Abi Grace and I have experience working with administration officials at Hamline. Travis having worked in the Dean of Students office with Patti Kerstein and Abi having worked under Patrick Haught in NSP. Unless you’re a student leader or actively involved it’s often students don’t know or understand administration. We would like to create spaces where students can connect with administration and foster relationships. In doing so we would like to promote the resources that administration can provide students whether it is financial aid help, academic help, or just being someone to talk to.

Connecting with the community outside of Hamline

As two students who live off campus we both have been lucky enough to explore the Hamline Midway and venture out of the Hamline bubble. In doing so we have learned about the Midway Coalition. Our goal is the connect student to the Midway Coalition. who can offer support with issues like:

• Parking
• Rent
• Landlord Issues
•  Property Issues
• Internships/Volunteer Hours

By connecting students with the Hamline Midway Coalition we are also connecting them with the outside Hamline community, something that students often don’t get to explore until they move off campus. This is something that we would like to change. Being comfortable and confident in engaging in the outside Hamline Community allows for students to grow what is their home while studying at Hamline.

Student Wellbeing and access

Reproductive Health

• Building on the relationship between the WRC and HUSC and continuing to find ways to provide resources regarding
  reproductive Health. Institutionalizing a Staff Position in the FRC
• Advocating for a full time basic needs position to be in place in the FRC. This person would be essential for students not for just food access but helping students apply to healthcare, SNAP, Housing assistance, etc.

Financial Aid

• We know that Hamline awards merit based scholarships, but offers some needs based scholarships. We understand that many students cannot close the gap between their scholarships and cost of attendance. We want to start working with financial aid to close this gap.

School Safety

• There has been a rise in school shootings across the country. We know that gun violence is the number one cause of death for young people. Both of us believe that Hamline should be locking all its doors and require card access into each building. Many colleges in the Metro already do this, it’s time Hamline joins.