Director of parking and transportation Clayton Harrington III addresses student senate. Photo by Nick Nelson/The Dakota Student. 

In the student senate meeting last Wednesday, Director of Parking and Transportation Clayton Harrington spoke about new updates in the parking and bussing systems here on campus. There is a tracking system being implemented into the shuttle buses so students can see exactly where the buses are on their route, to increase time efficiency.

“It is so the university can let you know where the bus is and what time it is coming. It will be more efficient and cost saving, because it will help us decide whether to cut or streamline routes,” Harrington said.

Student Body President Matt Kopp says the tracking app will make things much easier on students, especially those living off campus.

“We all try to park really close to a building, but it would be really nice if a student could just park far away, wait in their warm car and pull out their phone to check when a bus is coming,” Kopp said.

The app will hopefully increase traffic on shuttle buses in the future, since they are not currently being utilized to their full potential, according to Kopp.

There will be emails sent out to announce the new app to the student body in the near future.

According to Harrington, the entire parking system is getting a revamp. A 14 member parking committee will get into agreement on the changes needed and make recommendations to Vice President Breke. The goal is to have the changes in place by Fall 2016.

There is a student government reunion taking place on Friday, March 4 at the Gorecki Alumni Center on campus. So far, 15 UND alumni are coming back, ranging from individuals who went to UND in the 1950s until the present. The reunion is being held to bring back previous student body presidents and vice presidents, for everyone to collaborate and share stories on how student government impacted their success.

There will be a panel, lunch and the alumni will be given a tour of the campus to see what has changed. All current and former student government members are welcome to attend, and if they have any friends who are interested they can tag along too.

Matt Kopp provided an update on the presidential candidates visiting campus, saying three out of the six candidates have visited campus, and continues to urge students to be involved and go to the meet and greets.

MU Programming, the division of Student Government that brings free events to campus for students to enjoy, provided an update on how the events are being utilized.

The free movie nights are the most popular, with more and more students utilizing them as the year continues. So far, a total of 11,622 students have participated in all the events that MU programming puts on throughout the year, including bingo and other various events all around campus. 

MU Programming is always looking for more ideas from anybody. They are hoping to collaborate with the city of Grand Forks and take some events to the downtown area.

Next week’s student senate meeting will be held in Swanson Hall 17-18 Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and all are welcome to attend.

Journey Gontjes is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]