Student Council to Launch Widely Anticipated Website

For the past three years, Student Council has been designing a website to update the student body on policies, events and developments. The widely anticipated website will be launched next week, featuring the StuCo constitution and links to community updates.

It’s a great idea to incorporate it into student life without necessarily having to be there.

According to upper and StuCo Tech Committee member Rajrishi Das, the website will serve as a “portal of information between student council and the greater Exeter community.”  The site content will range from information on campus events to updates on StuCo policy deliberation.

Secretary Tara Weil  explained that StuCo “is gearing the website towards what students need and what they need to know.” To accomplish this, the website will also display school protocol such fire code policies and instruction on applying for financial aid towards sports equipment or school supplies.

The website’s Student Portal section will gather and publish student feedback. “Under this portal, students can provide feedback to The Grill, the dining halls and even assemblies,” StuCo President Jackson Parell said.

StuCo hopes that establishing the website will fulfill the student body’s demands for transparency and feedback and give students a voice in decisions and enable them to make propositions of their own. Currently, the website is structured as a WordPress blog, where visitors can submit paragraphs of information they would like to convey to StuCo officers. “There is also a section called the motion box that allows students to fill out a motion and submit it,” Parell added. “We, as an executive board, will review it and bring it to council for a vote.”

In addition to site features designed for the student body, aspects designed for faculty may be integrated in the future, though they remain currently unspecified.

Furthermore, the StuCo executive board aims to update the website at least once a week. “Raj had a very large role in the creation of the website, and he will manage the more technical aspects of it,” Weil said. The PR committee heads, seniors Billy O’Handley and Greg Miller, will also contribute to updating content.

Students look forward to the new website as a means of receiving information. “I think it’s a good idea for the student body to be informed of what’s happening on campus,” lower Jasper Yu said. “I hope to see a better transit of information through campus, because I feel like I’m sometimes left in the dark about certain events.” Upper Mary Provencal-Fogarty echoed these sentiments, saying that she would appreciate a way to be involved without having to go to StuCo meetings. “I would love a way to engage that doesn't compromise my Tuesday nights,” she said. “It’s a great idea to incorporate it into student life without necessarily having to be there.”

Prep Yunseo Choi hopes to find the information helpful as a new student navigating the many committees in Exeter’s student council. “I think it’s a good idea because it will have descriptions of different committees and who you would need to contact if you are interested in a certain committee,” she said.

Day students feel like the new website will help them be more involved in the Exeter community. “I’m a day student, so I don’t spend ton of time on campus,” lower Thomas Beaulieu said. “So I think a website informing me of all the happenings at Exeter will be helpful for me.” Provencal-Fogarty agreed with Beaulieu, saying that the website would compensate for the student council meetings she misses. “I think the main reason I don’t go to student council that often is because I have to go home,” she said. “So if I had access to a website, I would definitely feel more involved in the community.”

Along the same lines, day student representative Bella Ilchenko believes that the website will be useful to day students inconvenienced by the two hour gap between the end of classes and StuCo meetings. Before, day students had to rely on day student representatives such as Ilchenko, but now, all content can be accessed online, and day students can even take action individually by providing feedback. “We are continuing to work on it and improve user interface,” Ilchenko said. “I think that website is for everyone to have equal access and understand what decisions are being made.”