By Melissa Haworth-Cox
Assistant yeardisc editor
Southeastern’s Student Government Association organized and hosted a Campus Beautification Forum on Feb. 26 that discussed the concerns expressed on campus and projects to be put in place to fix those concerns.
According to Faculty Chair of the Campus Sustainability Committee Tim Patton, the purpose of the forum was to create awareness.
About 30 people attended the event: Demetra Wilkerson the Student Government Association president said.
The forum began with Scott Fairbairn, Southeastern’s landscape architect, who made a presentation explaining the projects that are currently in place and those planned for the future.
According to Badan, these projects addressed needs in the areas of ADA accessibility, drainage, general access to buildings and pedestrian flow.
Patton said it was not just beautification being discussed but also function.
Badan said one project that is currently being planned was that of a drainage area between the football and baseball fields, as well as by the gazebo.
Another idea currently in place was that of repainting the lines in the parking lot beside Shearer to be slanted and adding ADA parking spaces in that parking lot for those going to the Student Union, according to Badan.
Future projects discussed at the forum included putting plazas in front of the Fine Arts and Russell buildings, according to Badan.
After Fairbairn’s presentation, the forum continued with a question and answer session with questions prepared for the panel by the SGA.
The panel consisted of Patton, Fairbairn, Southeastern President Dr. Larry Minks, Representative of the Alumni Association’s Beautification Committee Janie Umsted, Chair of the SGA Safety and Beautification Committee Joseph Badan and Southeastern Staff Association President Jason Hicks.
The beautification forum was moderated by Wilkerson.
The questions began with the display of results of a survey about the public’s thoughts on campus beautification given on campus via email and Blackboard to students on campus as well as all faculty, staff and alumni.
This survey was about campus beautification.
Badan said the survey was made up of a sample of 49 people. Of the respondents, 81 percent said they believe landscaping is the most important beautification issue on campus, accoeding to Baddan.
In the forum it was asked of the board if they agreed with the priorities expressed in the survey.
Badan said that the SGA originally had 10 questions to ask the panel and intended to take questions from the crowd. However, due to time constraints, only the five primary questions were addressed in the forum.
The forum had to be cut short 30 minutes due to a last minute room change, according to Badan.