Photo by Kendall Bulkiewicz | The Crow’s Nest
By Riley Benson
On Apr. 3, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus’ student government (SG) hosted a student-led town hall that addressed questions and concerns of students regarding topics like dining, academics, diversity and more.
Administration representatives, like Christian Hardigree, the Regional Chancellor, Thomas Smith, the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs and Nicholas Setteducato, who retired the day after the Town Hall from the Regional Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance position, were also in attendance to these conversations to directly talk to students and address their concerns.
The main topics of the discussion were about on-campus dining, course availability, transportation between campuses, diversity, sustainability and the pro-Palestine hunger strike on the Tampa campus.
The town hall first began with updated on facilities and academics, which ran on for about half an hour to 45 minutes, where Setteducato and Smith gave updates on the construction happening throughout campus and more information students should be aware on.
Facilities Updates:
- Changes will be made to the current parking system, as USF St. Petersburg will be getting rid of stickers and switching to a license-plate based system. The Crow’s Nest previously covered this update in more detail.
- The campus will be removing the 50 kW electric charging stations in the parking garage, but will be adding 150 kW charging stations, which have the ability to charge a vehicle on 0 to full charge in less than an hour. Those will be installed in Lot 2, by the STG building and The Tavern.
- Artwork will be added to elevator landings on campus. They will be done by Jay Giroux, the same artist who did the street mural in front of the University Student Center. The artwork will be done towards the end of the semester.
- Construction on the roof of the Student Life Center and Davis Hall are expected to be finished in the coming weeks.
- Repairs to the Edge pool will be starting soon.
- USF St. Petersburg will receive funding for a new place on campus for veterans.
- The Federal Credit Union will be getting their own space in the USC. They’ll be located in the Regatta Room, which is to the left of Kahwa Coffee.
Academic Updates:
- USF St. Petersburg is hiring 17 faculty members, staring this upcoming fall semester. These faculty members are a mix of entirely new members and some that have previously retired.
- In an attempt to make high-demand classes more accessible, administration has started using “campus locks.” These locks are a temporary restriction that only allows students who are based out of the host campus to attend said class. After a certain amount of time has passed, the locks will be removed and students from other campuses will be able to register. Administration is also opening new sections of certain courses as they fill
,to meet the increased demand of students.
After the introductions and updates from administration, the Town Hall then began diving into the student questions proportion. This section of the Town Hall went on for a little over an hour, and students came ready with questions address popular issues and concerns.
Dining:
Q: Why are St. Petersburg students paying the same rate for meal plans as Tampa students, when USF St. Petersburg has a fraction of the available options to eat?
Rick Acosta, general manager of USF St. Petersburg Dining, replied “we are a small community. In order to have [more dining] services we need to have the volume for it.” He explained that as the campus continues to grow, the campus also expects the dining options to increase.
Q: Why are there a lack of late-night dining options on campus?
For context, The Nest, which is the only dining hall on campus, closes at 9 p.m. Sunday – Thursday and at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday. In comparison, The Hub, one of USF Tampa’s dining halls, closes at 10 p.m. Monday – Thursday. The campus also has other select dining options that are open late, like a Starbucks that closes at 2 a.m. Sunday – Thursday.
Chancellor Hardigree answered the question saying, “If [having late night options] are a demand, from not just a single student, but a group of students, we’ll work to finding a resolution.”
She also mentioned that for late-night options there’s the “Late Night Breakfast” event and the “Vicky” machine, located in the University Student Center.
However, these alternatives don’t actually solve the issue mentioned.
“Late Night Breakfast” is only hosted once a semester during “study center week” (the week before finals), and runs from 10 p.m. to midnight. Furthermore, the “Vicky” machine is available to use 24/7 and features more “grab and go” style meals and is only accessible to residents who live in Ibis (the USC’s residence hall). After the USC closes, the front doors to the building lock and you are only able to get in if you live in the building.
Students mentioned Vicky’s inaccessibility to the Chancellor, and she posed the idea of moving it to the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library (NPML), which is open until 2 a.m., Monday – Thursday
Some students, were not 100% on-board with this idea, as NPML is one of the farthest buildings on-campus from the general area of the residence halls.
Q: Are there any plans to make the food offered in the dining hall more accessible to those with dietary restrictions?
Acosta replied that while the vegan station is only one small spot in the dining hall, it is diverse. For anyone who has dietary restrictions and is having issues finding food in the dining hall, they can talk to Acosta and the chef to find something that works for them.
The student who asked the question mentioned that her roommate is having issues with the dining hall’s lack of diversity, and even reached out to dining services via email, but never received a response.
Acosta mentioned that the email may have been sent to the Tampa campus, which is why she hadn’t received a response from dining services.
Housing:
Q: Is overpopulation becoming an issue for housing, especially in the coming years?
There were a lot of comments from students being fearful of not getting the housing and services they “deserve,” explained the audience member.
The Chancellor states that many other big colleges and universities only allow students to live on campus their first year, and are forced to move off campus for the rest of their college career. Although, other major schools in Florida, like FSU and UF.
She says that unlike other schools, USF works to ensure that rooms are put on hold for upperclassman students, for the coming years.
She debunks the fear of overpopulation, by saying that in terms of the number of students living on-campus, they are staying about their size.
Q: Are there any plans in the future for more housing buildings or dining halls?
Chancellor Hardigree explained that she “wholeheartedly” wants another dorm built on-campus, but in order to do so, there needs to be a demand.
Last year, Housing had 100 students on the waitlist to live in an on-campus dorm, with this years’ numbers still unknown.
Q: Are there any plans to address the mold concerns in Pelican Apartments?
“This is the first I’m hearing of this,” said when directly asked by the student.
Although, The Crow’s Nest has received multiple reports from students, as recently as earlier this semester, about mold issues in the building.
Additionally, Steven Harris, the Assistant Director of Housing, mentioned that this summer they are making changes to Pelican Hall, like improving the infrastructure and addressing the mold issues.
Classes:
Q: For marine biology students, why are a majority of the marine biology classes located at the Tampa campus, rather than in St. Petersburg, when this campus is on the water and has access to marine organizations and departments, like the College of Marine Science (CMS), the Center for Ocean Mapping and Innovative Technology (COMIT) and the Knight Oceanographic Research Center (KRC)?
Smith said that faculty and administration want more marine biology courses on the campus, and that they would like the program to be a “destination” major for the campus.
The main reason for the classes being split is due to the “OneUSF” consolidation between all three campuses in 2020.
Chancellor Hardigree explained that after the consolidation, the university had two separate marine biology programs based out of both campuses,’ and as much as they would’ve liked to merge it into one, that’s based out of St. Petersburg, they couldn’t force professors to move to one campus.
However, they are working on getting more faculty and offering more classes for the major in this campus.
Q: Are there plans to add more classes for history majors, specifically for this summer?
History is a degree that administration is particularly working to develop more at the St. Petersburg campus. In terms of having classes in the summer, administration is working on finding more faculty to offer courses during that semester as many faculty use the summertime as their break, so they don’t have as many courses offered.
Transportation:
Q: Is there a way to introduce transportation between campuses for St. Petersburg students to attend classes at the Tampa campus?
This question was brought up by multiple students, with the main idea being a bus between St. Petersburg and Tampa, and at the moment there are no plans to establish said bus.
Chancellor Hardigree mentioned that in the past, the campus has paid for a bus from St. Petersburg to Tampa for special events, like USF sports games, and had to “wander around the halls and beg people to get on the bus.”
She explained that until the campus can demonstrate that many students want and would actually use a bus to commute, it would likely not be approved by administration.
There, while she’ll bring it up to the board, she has yet to see the demand, match the actual usage for transportation from St. Petersburg to Tampa.
Q: Is there a way to measure the demand for cross-campus transportation?
Another student chimed inro the previous conversation, saying that she’s a senior, whose been at to USF St. Petersburg for her entire college career, and every year she’s been told by multiple students who want their to be transportation installed between the campuses. And every year those students are told the same thing about they’re not being enough demand to instate transportation.
She explained further stating that the lack of demand for special events doesn’t measure how many students would want the bus for classes.
Chancellor Hardigree replied by saying that she thought they did do a survey at one point to see if students would be interested in a bus to Tampa, but Abdul Muqeet Khawaja, the St. Petersburg campus student governor, corrected her stating that they did do a survey for a USF football Homecoming game and received only 8 replies.
They also dove into the specifics of how a bus would work, and the schedule. Hardigree mentioned that if it was to be implemented it would possibly be a Monday- Thursday schedule, with a morning, afternoon and late afternoon pick-ups. Due to Tampa traffic, it would not be a continually running bus.
Because of this conversation, Chancellor Hardigree may send out a survey to gauge the demand for a cross-campus bus.
USF Tampa Hunger Strike:
Q: What is the role of USF St. Petersburg student government and faculty, when it comes to major issues like the hunger strike and helping students across all campuses?
“At the end of the day your safety as a student is our priority,” Chancellor Hardigree said.
She mentioned that she was at the Board of Trustees meeting when the protestors spoke and she only knows about what the chair told her, but doesn’t know the specifics about USF’s investment portfolio.
The hunger strike’s purpose is to demand that USF divest from companies that support Israel, such as Hewlett Packard (HP), Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Gruman and Caterpillar.
The St. Petersburg campus’ role in the strike is to have students be able to voice their opinions and concerns, while also being safe, said Hardigree.
The audience member that asked the question explained that she wishes that faculty and administration could express their perspective on the situation in Palestine without facing job insecurity.
Diversity:
Q: With the rise of anti-diversity legislation in Florida, how does USF St. Petersburg plan to allocate resources and information to make sure minority students are able to still have a well-rounded college experience?
This year USF St. Petersburg has more students of color, than they have ever had in years past, according to Chancellor Hardigree. This is reflected in preliminary numbers from the USF InfoCenter, which state 1229 out of 3248 students are POC, 37.8% compared to last spring’s 35% (not including those with race listed as non resident alien).
Dr. Aurélio Valente, regional assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate studies, is working with undergraduate advisors and advisors within different colleges to make sure students have a clear path to success.
Chancellor Hardigree explained that she wants students from marginalized communities to connect with people who have similar experiences to them. She wants to make sure that at USF St. Petersburg students of color and BIPOC students are seen and heard.
Q: How are minority faculty supported in their departments and made sure that they stay in their positions?
“As an administrator I would not stand for someone not being supported,” Hardigree said. Whether it was because of disability, maternity leave, or adopting a child, supporting USF’s faculty and staff is as important as supporting students.
The Town Hall was scheduled to be from 3 to 5 p.m. and it, unfortunately, ended about 30 minutes early. The Crow’s Nest did submit questions ahead of time, but they were not addressed by any administration present.
