From library hours to pedestrian safety to weird smells, students came to SGA’s town hall meeting with a variety of questions and concerns for UCA administrators Nov. 16.

Vice President of Operations Brad Lewis said SGA hosts these town halls once or twice a semester so students can “ask really specific questions to get really specific answers.”

“I’ll be planning another one in the spring,” he said. “We had a lot of administration. We had the majority of cabinet here, and then we also have mainly SGA students and then a few other students.”

SAFETY

Senior public relations major Jeromy Hunt said, “We’ve had two incidents where somebody has been struck by a vehicle. I know we just had one big one and I think we’ve had a second one.”

“How can we make students feel safer about crossing the streets, especially the major streets like on Donaghey?”

UCAPD’s Chief John Merguie said, “Once school gets started, we do Brake for Bears, and that’s our annual campaign every year to let everybody know about crosswalks. Not only the people walking the crosswalks but the people who are driving. I haven’t heard for sure what the cause of that accident was. I would assume it’s inattentive driving. 

“When you’re driving, especially around this campus, you got to be off your cellphones, you got to be paying attention, and then … when you do get the cross light, and it’s your turn to walk, yes, you have the right of way, but you’ve still got to be paying attention and make sure that the other person sees you. … I make sure I look at the driver to make sure they’re slowing down.”

“More than anything, it’s both people. It’s the people behind the wheel and the people walking. Everybody’s in a hurry, everybody’s on their cellphones, so you gotta just look before you walk,” he said.

Davis said, “A lot of the additional crosswalks that were added to Donaghey Avenue as it was being redeveloped were a direct result of our conversations about concerns for students.”

“Jenny and I have the pleasure of being able to live in the president’s house, but we get the horror of watching how many people are walking across that particular intersection like this,” he said while picking up and looking at his phone.

“And how many drivers are driving through the intersection like that. I would bet 90% of our problem is people being on their phones. Chief is exactly right,” Davis said.

Hunt said he has to cross Donaghey Avenue regularly.

“If I have to walk across a major street, I want to make sure that I’m safe,” he said. “That accident could have been prevented on both ends because I’ve seen the video a couple times.”

Hunt said he was “satisfied with” the administration’s answer to his question.

“At the end of the day, there are measures that can be taken on both ends, whether it’s for students or whether it’s for drivers,” he said, adding he’d also like to see more awareness campaigns like Brake for Bears.

ROADS, LOTS

“I’m in Alpha Sig and [Augusta Avenue] is so bad to go down, so I don’t know if there are any plans to maybe fill the potholes,” Block said.

Davis said, “Those are not university streets. Those are city streets, so we definitely have to work with the city. There’ll be some point in the future they’ll be university streets, but that’s not going to happen in the next probably five years.”

Davis said UCA’s been working with the city to address problems on Augusta and Western avenues.

“There’s both overlay concerns that need to be dealt with, just to deal with potholes and to smooth out the road, and then there’s also drainage issues that we are in very active conversations with the city about things to do about that,” Davis said.

He said the physical plant is also working to make gravel lots on Western Avenue permanent.

“We know that we can’t get beyond the next three years without having some significant paving and some significant parking lot improvements, but those are all fee-driven, so we will be having a conversation with SGA about having peer comparisons; what are our parking and access fees relative to peer institutions, relative to other schools in the state?”

“I don’t want to frighten anybody, we’re not going to put them up there where Fayetteville’s are, but we will look and see, for institutions like ourselves with … similar residential to commuter status, what sort of fee levels would be appropriate.”

According to the University of Arkansas website, permits to park in resident lots cost $745 a year, and permits to park in student and economy lots cost $115 and $25 a year, respectively.

UCA students pay for parking permits through the security and access fee charged each term, which is $27.

Davis said the progress of the parking lot being built where Short and Denney Hall is taking longer than planned.

“That is taking time to do because we absolutely want to make certain that it’s done well.

“That particular lot can provide much-needed flex parking space for both our Ronnie Williams Student Center as well as for the Snow Fine Arts facility,” he said.

He said the spots will be “a third that will be marked quite open. There’ll be a third that will be yellow and there’ll be a third that will be paid parking, the meter parking,” with five disabled parking spots.

Davis explained why the university demolished Short and Denney Hall.

“We have done full renovations of Conway, Hughes, Carmichael and State,” he said.

“It averaged about $6.5 million dollars a project, which is significant. It adds up.”

He said the work Short and Denney Hall’s foundation needed would have cost “$8-9 million” alone, adding up to “$18-20 million total” for the whole renovation.

BREAK SERVICES

The international student representative for SGA, Aminatou Adeniji, asked about the availability of services for students over breaks. She said international students have been concerned.

“Most of them, they don’t have anywhere to go, anywhere to eat apart from the school cafeteria,” she said.

She also asked about shuttle availability.

“I myself live at Bear Village [at 2201 Moix Blvd.] and the shuttle does not work during the weekend and also during the break. Why? I don’t have any other means of transportation. Do you guys have any solution for this problem?”

General Manager of Dining Services Joshua Gorham said, “We can always work with the international office to see what other solutions we can have … So we’re happy to have those conversations and I can initiate that conversation immediately.”

Davis said UCA has been concerned about services during breaks because “being able to continue going to the grocery, run other errands, becomes a big issue for students.”

“There are a lot of individuals that don’t go home during the break from around Dec. 15 to Jan. 10. We will be working as a cabinet to begin developing the schedule of what those services are. I know that we’ll be working with Dr. Phillip Bailey and our international engagement office in trying to make certain that we can maximize shuttle service,” both on-call and scheduled, he said.

CHICK-FIL-A

SGA College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Representative Makenna Goss said, “My question was about the Chick-fil-A and the switch from the grab-and-go to the Grubhub app that we have now. I know there were some students who were concerned about the wait time and felt like the grab-and-go was maybe a little bit quicker.”

Gorham said, “We have seen a little bit of extension of wait times, but we’re working to try to pull those back a little bit.

“Chick-fil-A requires this change for all universities, campuses, that had the grab-and-go system. We had to move to the model where it’s really kind of a full-service model, and we have seen some challenges with the wait time,” he said.

“They want to make sure the food is a better quality for our students and our guests, and then for waste purposes, kind of going back to our sustainability goals.”

He said grab-and-go food was made in batches, which also saw waits.

He said previously, when they ran out of food, “everybody’s waiting 10-15 minutes for that to come out, so now the difference is the wait time is essentially the same for everyone who walks up and orders.”

Afterward, Goss said his answer made her feel “much better” about the wait times.

“I hadn’t had a clear answer in the campus rumor mill of why they did that and I didn’t realize it was something that was mandated by Chick-fil-A,” she said.

TECHNOLOGY

Senior class representative Jacie Lemons said she’s heard a lot of complaints about the new multifactor authorization system UCA uses, Duo Security.

“They’re leaving their phone at home on accident. They get to campus and aren’t able to sign into anything,” she said.

Chief Information Officer Trevor Seifert said, “It’s a second form of authentication. It takes an extra step. It’s based off of security. We’re trying to protect your guys’ sensitive data, as well as our university’s sensitive data.”

He said the IT help desk in the Mathematics and Computer Science Technology Building’s room 103 is “there seven days a week.”

“If you get caught in a situation like that, you can call 450-3107. Let them know you’ve left your phone at home and you need a temporary password.”

LIBRARY HOURS

SGA Senior Class Pres. Heaven Block said, “I’ve heard potentially it [Torreyson Library] might have to close and not be open 24 hours like normal, due to short staff and things like that. I don’t know if that was just rumors, but I’ve heard it from multiple different students, and they’ve been concerned.”

Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness Kurt Boniecki said UCA is evaluating late-night usage this year.

“We’ve got three shifts; we’ve got your day shift, we’ve got the evening, and then we’re looking at after 2 a.m. to 7 a.m., how many students are actually there using the library, and how best to use resources because y’all pay for the library, and if there’s a handful of students in there, and then we have to staff that over the whole night, then that takes resources away from doing other things for you in the library, like ensuring we have enough databases and we have the staff to support you during the day.”

He said using the evaluation’s results, his office will bring recommendations to the provost and president.

“We may opt for, instead of keeping the entire library open, have a smaller space for late-night study or something like that, so there’s a lot of options but no decisions have been made,” he said.

ODOR

SGA Pres. Heaven Block said “there’s been an awful smell” between Doyne and the back of Torreyson Library.

“I’ve smelled it and I’ve seen it all over different social media … I didn’t know if anyone knew about it,” Block said.

Associate Vice President for Facilities Kevin Carter said Nov. 24, “The smell was the compost used in the soil for the new flower bed. The smell should be gone by now.”

ECLIPSE

Chief of Staff Amy Whitehead also shared news about UCA’s plans for the eclipse, “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“There are going to be a whole host, a whole lineup, of events the weekend before the eclipse, and on April 8, we will have a watch party in and around Estes Stadium. We’ll be handing out eclipse-viewing glasses; we’ll have NASA TV streaming on the big screen.”

Whitehead said UCA will have a dog-friendly event on the College of Business lawn.

“It’s called Barkanalia and there’s going to be a feature film filmed during that afternoon,” she said.