Victoria Bresnahan—News Editor
The university’s Conscious Capitalism is working to become the first undergraduate version of the club in the country after the Student Government Association voted to approve it last week.
The group is attending a conference this week to create additional bylaws for other undergraduate groups to be created.
“So, it was thought of we were going to be the second or third, but we’ve just kind of found out we will technically be the first,” said Bryan Sapione, a senior and co-founding member of the university’s Conscious Capitalism.
According to Clubs and Organizations graduate intern Jenna Dunn, Conscious Capitalism submitted all forms necessary to become recognized as a club.
“It goes beyond the meaning of just business and profit,” he said, at the SGA meeting.
Co-founders of the national organization John Mackey, creator of Whole Foods Market, and Raj Sisodia, Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism, implemented the club into businesses and graduate programs across the nation.
In an effort to bring the group’s mission beyond business majors, Sapione said they aim to create some form of conscious capitalism verification. If a club or organization was practicing conscious capitalism correctly, they could be certified, he said. The organization is a “philosophy” and a “movement,” he said.
“That is something that we’re really interested in because, revolving around higher purpose, conscious leadership, conscious culture and stakeholder orientation,” he said, “I think each club outside of the School of Business, just in general on campus, embodies conscious capitalism. It is something that is a positive thing and something that we want to show, ‘yes, you’re recognized.’”
The group held a meeting of interest in which many students and faculty members attended.
Since Sapione is a senior, the organization has students in mind who can manage the group next year.
The registrar also attended the SGA meeting as a guest speaker to discuss the proposed waitlisting draft policy.
According to Registrar Alicia Carrol, departments will be able to choose course sections for all, some or none to have an online waitlist.
“Academic departments will establish the maximum number of waitlist seats (if any) when they submit their schedules to the Registrar’s Office,” according to the Course Registration Waitlist draft FAQ.
The registration waitlist would be available online to students who are waiting to register for a course that has filled up. The proposal was recently reviewed by Faculty Senate.
If approved, the waitlist will be available by spring 2020, with students being able to use it when registration opens in November. The waitlist would be accessible immediately when a course becomes full during registration and would close at the end of the add/drop period, said Carroll.
According to a student survey about the newly formed year-long academic schedule, 88% of the 1,000 students who responded stated they would use a course waitlist.
If a seat becomes available in a full section, the first student on the waitlist would be sent an email notifying them of the availability, Carroll said.
“The student must register within 24 hours of the notification, otherwise you are dropped from the waitlist,” she said.
If a student is dropped, then the next student is given the opportunity to register. Students can also waitlist for the course if they have a time conflict, she said.
“We don’t let you register for courses that have a time conflict,” said Carroll, “but the idea behind the waitlist is to optimize your schedule, right? And if you really need to get into a course that has a time conflict you just need to absolve the time conflict before you potentially register for that seat.”
However, a student will not be allowed to waitlist in multiple sections for one course. The student also cannot waitlist up to the maximum credits allowed—which is 18 for undergraduates—in combination with the courses they have already signed up for.
At the meeting, Aidan Coleman, an SGA Representative-at-Large, said some of the most effective ways to inform students of this draft policy may be for individual departments to email their majors. He said Peer mentors and Orientation Ambassadors can inform freshmen during orientation and throughout the year.
Photo Credit: Victoria Bresnahan
