Hey UConn, this is the third of many responses to top-rated ideas from our new website, uconn.ideascale.com. On the site, you can post your ideas for improving UConn, and vote other ideas up and down. The highest-rated ideas will be referred to the appropriate USG committee for further discussion and action, and I will be writing blog posts to detail what is being done about these ideas.

One of the first ideas to get a lot of votes was, “Polling Place on Campus for Local, State, and National Elections.” This is an idea that is far along in the process, and USG has actually been pursuing it for many months.

There are many obstacles to overcome in order to get a polling place on campus – the cost, where to put it, the necessity of having it open for EVERY election (not just presidential or even midterm elections, but also local elections and referenda), and concerns over whether it would be allowed by state law (there are mixed messages, and no definite decision, on whether state law would consider it to be unfairly catering to a certain population). These are all being worked through, with the goal of getting a polling place for November 2012.

Some info on the progression of the issue: I met with Secretary of State Denise Merrill (formerly the state representative from Mansfield) in March 2011, who was supportive of the idea but said that the power to make it happen was in the hands of the town registrars. I then met with President Herbst about the issue at the beginning of Fall 2011, and she is very excited about making it happen. We plan on meeting with the town registrars of voters in the near future (we were going to meet earlier, but the registrars were unable to meet until Connecticut’s redistricting process was complete, and it just finished up). Also, the mayor of Mansfield has expressed her support for the issue and is working on it as well.

I will be sure to post updates whenever there is progress on this issue. Stay tuned!

Hey UConn, here’s another response to a proposal from IdeaScale. I am personally responding to the most popular ideas on our new site, to tell students what actions USG is taking to work towards improving UConn. While I am typically just going to reply to the most popular ideas, I will post a response to less popular ideas from time to time, in order to provide information to interested students.

Dennis Pierce, the Director of Dining Services, contacted me about the idea, “Provide healthy food choices on campus” and requested that I post a response from him. His response to the idea:
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The Department of Dining salutes USG for hosting the IdeaScale. It truly creates a venue that allows to de-myth many of the perceptions that occur around campus. We took the comment above and addressed the miss-stated information. Please note that we are always open to comments and suggestions. If there are questions regarding our menus, ingredients etc feel free to call us at 486-3128, email us via our web site or set up an appointment to discuss.

Dining is a rather large organization preparing in excess of 180 thousand meals per week in our residential dining program. We have to meet the needs of a very diverse group of individuals. We offer healthy options, Vegetarian options, Vegan, Kosher, Gluten Free, and Dairy Free. While we strive to provide many options there students that want to have many choices and sometimes that may not meet the definition of healthy. What we do strive for is using the best “clean” ingredients that originate from quality sources. We would like to thank all that have added comments. This allows us the opportunity to better market the correct information as it relates to the products we serve. We hope that once reading the following, individuals will seek out accurate information, so that miss information is not perpetuated creating a plethora of urban myths.

C.Dennis Pierce
Director of Dining Services

· Hydrolyzed beef stock in soup labeled as “vegan”……This is not true. Here at UConn anything labeled vegan does not contain any animal by products. We take a conservative approach to insure that all our ingredients used in recipes are in fact vegan.

· Potato chips and snacks loaded with plant dextrin’s and cane sugar…..We use Deep River Chips that is a local company out of CT. Here is a quote directly from their web site. “We only use non-GMO potatoes and all of our products are kosher certified, gluten free and contain no trans fat. We’re also 100% committed to sustainability”.

· Food loaded with salt, not sure if they use msg or gmo-ingredients in the cooked food at the union………At the Student Union there are no items that contain MSG. We have recently begun to source lower sodium chicken and beef bases as well as all our beans for lower sodium content and continue to look for ways to reduce sodium.

· For such a research oriented campus, it surprises me that it serves its students such low quality of food……All our food is restaurant quality and is purchased through an approved vendor. Sysco does not specify of our purchasing requirements. Dining, through the use of a trained culinary team, and with review by a Dietician create menus and specifications for all of our menus. We establish high quality specifications that our food distributor must meet before we purchase any item. We also use common brands that are also sold in retail such as Purdue, Tyson etc.

· Food served is heated with high temperatures and has many additives, food colorings and preservatives as well as unnecessary chemical compounds, not to mention non-organic, non-fair trade, non-kosher vegetables and animal products…………Here at UConn we cook all our food to the required state of CT guidelines and do not add any additives, food colorings, preservatives and unnecessary chemical compounds. Where possible we use local, organic fair trade products. We also are one of the largest consumers / purchasers of local CT grown produce. Often vegetables served at the SU Market come from our UConn Student Garden, Spring Valley Farm.

· The choices for healthy eating on campus are severely limited and this needs to change……….We offer healthy options on campus at all our dining facilities on campus. In each of our facilities we offer Healthy Husky and Healthy plate alternatives. If at any time you feel that your options are not varied enough then share your ideas with our management staff. Without verbal, timely input we do not know if we are meeting your needs.

· The Coca-Cola company in case you didn’t know provides all of the student union food and not sure what else, maybe dining hall food…………..Not quite true. Coca Cola only supplies some of our beverages. Our beverage selection includes all natural juices, milk and water. Individuals have a choice when selecting a beverage.

· How can anyone truly enjoy pasta shells with chemically-flavored and composed fettuccine Alfredo sauce (student union)……….Not accurate. Our Alfredo sauce we serve at the USM top ingredients are skim milk, cream, cream cheese and Romano cheese. It is made here in the USA in Wisconsin.

· UConn’s Dining service is a contract account………Not accurate. UConn is a self operated food service provider owned and operated by the University of Connecticut we are not a contract foodservice.

Hey UConn, this is the first of many responses to top-rated ideas from our new website, uconn.ideascale.com. On the site, you can post your ideas for improving UConn, and vote other ideas up and down. The highest-rated ideas will be referred to the appropriate USG committee for further discussion and action, and I will be writing blog posts to detail what is being done about these ideas. This is the first post in what will be a very long series!

One of the top-rated ideas on IdeaScale is “Get a Red Box on campus” which states, “We should get a Red Box on campus to have easy access to newly released movies instead of just being able to see one movie at the Student Union theater.”

The idea made a lot of sense, so I looked into it further. SUBOG, who runs the Student Union, had previously looked into getting a Redbox kiosk in the Student Union, but the company actually turned down their request because they thought there would not be high enough of a demand on a college campus. This surprised me, since I’m sure hundreds of students would use a Redbox if there was one on campus.

So, in order to help demonstrate that students really wanted to bring a Redbox (or similar service from another company) to campus, I and Senator Connor Mullen authored legislation in USG, “A Statement of Position Concerning Bringing a DVD Rental Kiosk to UConn.” It passed at USG’s Senate meeting on February 8th, and the full text will be posted online soon.

Moving forward, USG will be doing all it can to make this happen, working with possible hosts of the kiosk (such as the Student Union or the Co-op) to bring this service to UConn students. Stay tuned for further developments!

I have a column in the Daily Campus today recapping the past week for USG. Click here to read it on the Daily Campus site, or see below for the full text.
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Hello, UConn! Student Body President Sam Tracy here with some updates on what your student government is up to. USG just concluded our special elections, IdeaScale is going great, we have some big elections coming up, and a fee increase for USG is going to be on the ballot in March.

As I hope you’ve heard, USG held special elections this past Monday and Tuesday to fill some vacant seats in the Undergraduate Student Senate. Election results are in, and they’ve been posted on USG’s website, usg.uconn.edu. Check them out, because you may have some new people representing you in USG. I’m really looking forward to working with all of the new senators for the rest of the semester.

USG’s new website, uconn.ideascale.com, is growing even larger than what we had hoped. As I write this, we already have 66 ideas posted, 397 users, and a total of 3114 votes. 16 ideas have passed 50 upvotes, and I will be writing a response to each of them at presidentialblog.usg.uconn.edu. Stay tuned, and be sure to check out the site. You can post your ideas for improving UConn and vote other ideas up and down.

Now that the special elections are over, we’re already looking forward to the upcoming regular elections, which will take place March 5-7. Positions up for election include President and Vice President, Comptroller, Multicultural and Diversity Senators and Academic Senators. If you’re interested in running, you need to fill out an election packet to get on the ballot. To get a packet, come by the USG office in SU 219 or print one off from our website.

During those elections, there will also be many things other than USG positions to vote for, including members of the Co-op Board of Directors and a number of referenda. One of the referendum questions is a $5 per semester fee increase for USG, which would bring the student fee from $40 per semester to $45. This fee increase would allow USG to continue funding student organizations to host events on campus or attend conferences and competitions. As I’m sure you have heard, USG’s budget is strained due to the rapid growth in the number of student groups. Since USG last got an increase four years ago, the number of student organizations has increased from 200 to over 500. While it’s great that more groups are being formed, it’s impossible for USG to keep up with demand for funding with the current fee. So when elections roll around, help USG help students by voting yes on USG’s fee increase.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas for improving UConn. My open office hours, held in SU 219, are Mondays from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. You can also email me at president@usg.uconn.edu.