It was a smart move on behalf of the Student Association to hold off on hosting the Chat & Dine program this semester to work through the program’s organizational weak points. But SA must ensure the opportunity is reinstated for the spring semester and that its status is properly communicated.

Chat & Dine is an SA-funded initiative that was approved in 2014 to provide students with the chance to invite members of the university faculty or staff to a lunch at the Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center.

While SA President Aysha Seedat and Student Life Chair SA Keelan Erhard have cited problems with the application process and monitoring the number of students taking part in Chat & Dine as reasons backing SA’s decision to postpone the program, these are issues that should have been clearly communicated to the university community from the start.

In moving forward from the Chat & Dine program’s sudden hiatus, SA must make sure the opportunity returns to the SU campus — a priority that should be complimented by proper revisions to improve the program and clear communication of news regarding the program.

Seedat, who introduced the idea as Student Life Committee chair in 2014, said Chat & Dine had 37 applicants last semester that were accepted and participated in the program, but that there were more that participated as there were often additional students who attended the lunches.

SA should address this oversight problem by working to create a better system to monitor how many students are actually using the program, so that it returns with a comprehensive structure capable of tracking the ratio of students who applied to those attending the lunches — an important asset in funding and planning decisions for the future of the program.

While bringing back a stronger program, SA should also make sure students know about it.

The organization should use all communication avenues available to report updates on decisions made about the program and its projected return in the spring. In this way, SA can do its part in ensuring this information is made clear, unlike the Chat & Dine program’s abrupt suspension and the reasoning behind it.

In implementing effective structural adjustments and maintaining communication with the university community, SA make significant efforts toward accomplishing what should be a strong priority heading into the spring semester: bringing back the Chat & Dine program to the SU undergraduate student body.

Published on December 2, 2015 at 12:51 am

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