EE and CS Minors stay, farewell Golden Bowl

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science students will be relieved to know that, courtesy of Tracy Gardner along with other faculty, they will be able to obtain a minor for other disciplines within their major department. Due to a reorganization, EE and CS students have had their departments merge. As a result, EEs working towards a minor in CS and CS students looking for a minor in EE would not be able to obtain the minors, as they fall within the same department. The Faculty Senate has now decided that those students will be able to obtain the minors they have already started, and are looking for alternative solutions for future students.

Golden Bowl may shortly be a memory for Mines students. The lease for Golden Bowl and the local bike shop will be expiring this fall, and the landowner most likely will sell his property. Additionally, it is expected that Vitamin Cottage, which was founded in Golden in 1955, will buy the property and build a local natural grocery store. This could provide jobs for 20 people and increase tax revenue for Golden.
Graduating Seniors this spring may have less time on stage to receive their degree. At the last Faculty Senate meeting, Provost Terence Parker announced that with the current expected graduating class size, the graduation ceremony would take between 30 and 45 minutes longer than usual. In an effort to offset the largest graduating class in Mines history, it has been proposed to change students’ time to walk across stage from 8 seconds to 5 seconds. The USG faculty senate representative shared that the faculty is not in favor of this proposal, and are looking into other options. It was previously proposed that graduation be split into three separate ceremonies for the three separate colleges of the School of Mines. This may happen in the future, but will not occur this year.

Only 200 spots will be reserved next year for incoming freshmen. The latest decision on freshman parking is to allow 450 students to apply for a lottery, of which 200 spots will be awarded. These spots will be located off of the main campus allowing upperclassmen who use their cars daily to have the best spots on campus. These new freshman passes are also expected to be roughly $500 to further discourage freshman from having cars on campus.

In new business, USG voted on fee increases, by inflation of 1.9%, for the Academic Construction Building Fee, the Associated Students Fee, and the Intermodal Transportation Fee. These fees can only be increased by the school after recommendations from USG. After deliberation, USG decided to leave the three fees at their current rates, and not account for inflation next year. The Academic Construction Building Fee pays for bonds used for academic construction on campus. The Associated Students Fee funds student organizations such as MAC. The Intermodal Transportation Fee funds RTD, which has recently said that they will not increase their fee for the next school year.

Election packets for next school year’s Undergraduate Student Government Council will be available the Monday after spring break. Students interested in running for a position will have to obtain a petition and receive signatures from students in order to run. Voting will occur the week of E-days, and the new council members will be announced during E-days.

A parking garage could soon be a reality, if students are willing to tax themselves for a $11 million structure. While more information is being gathered, it is expected that in the near future a student survey hosted by USG will be presented to obtain student opinion on the idea. This will be discussed in the next USG meeting, which will be a joint meeting with the Graduate Student Government.

Students interested in voicing their opinion are welcome to attend in the Ballrooms at 5 pm next Thursday. Additionally, a guest speaker will be presenting on the Campus Master Plan.

Students with questions or concerns about the school should contact their class senators or visit them in office hours. Freshman and sophomore classes meet Wednesdays from 4 to 5 pm in the USG office, located in the student activities office. Juniors meet from 5 to 6 pm in the Digger Den on Wednesdays. The senior class meets from 11:10 am to 12:10 pm Thursdays at Coors Lab.