ASDU Presidential State of the University Address Manuscript

Friends,

    This year will be an exciting and thrilling year full of development and change.  As many of you know, Dominican has been rising from being known as a sleepy and small private university to a more identifiable institution in the western United States.  Tonight, I want to let you all know about the steps that Dominican is taking in improving our recognition. Specifically, I wish to give you an update on the progress of  Magnolia House, the Old Edgehill Mansion renovation project, the Field of Dreams, our move to NCAA division II,  Convocation,  the new Student Union, Greening Dominican, updates on upcoming events, and finally some information on tuition.

In 2007, the University purchased the Magnolia house from a lifelong neighbor of the University.  The home was purchased for 5.6 million dollars in an effort to provide some much needed space for administrative offices on campus.   Since 2007, the university has been undergoing a multiple stepped process with the city to renovate and update the home.  I am happy to inform you that the process of updating the Magnolia house is in its final stages and city permits are being filed.  The building will become  the new administrative core of the campus, housing the Office of the President, the Provost, and other Vice Presidents.   In addition to offices, Magnolia house will serve as a meeting place for university committees and functions. The administration is hoping to move into the building by mid-semester or before spring semester.

Constructed in 1888, Edgehill Mansion served as a University residence hall, dinning hall, and chapel.  Sadly in 1989, engineers deemed it seismically unfit for occupancy and the building was vacated where it’s been sitting abandoned for the past 20 years.  A year ago, the board of trustees unanimously approved a measure to retrofit this historic building to be used as the Saint Catherine Benicasa Chapel, the Dominican Heritage and Alumni building, and the offices of campus ministry and student life. Since the approval by the board of trustees, DU Alumni have taken it upon themselves to raise many of the funds necessary to see the project come to life, donating over 800,000 dollars to compliment the million dollars donated by the Board of Trustees.   Fund raising for this renovation is still underway – there is no definitive time line for when the renovation will begin.

Today, Dominican athletics is in NAIA Division II.  With our numerous accolades and successful teams Dominican has proven itself ready to make the move to NCAA division two.  Although Dominican is still in the preliminary stages of the move it will hopefully be permanently part of the National Collegiate Athletics Association within a few short years.  With the anticipated move into a more competitive division, Dominican has been in the process of constructing its Field of Dreams. This field will include: an NCAA regulation softball, soccer, and lacrosse field at the south end of Forest Meadows, A split parking lot for additional parking, concession stands and restrooms, storage rooms and an athletic trainer station, and an additional multi-use field on the north end of the site where the current soccer field sits. The process of the field of dreams is currently in the city council awaiting approval, and fundraising for this multi-million dollar project is progressing.  Groundbreaking is expected to happen early next year and the field should be completed in late fall 2009.   

Every year, Dominican takes part in convocation to open the academic year.  In recognition of the upcoming 2008 election, Dominican will be hosting a Vote Smart Challenge focusing on key issues on the ballot as well as the nominees for President.   During this vote smart challenge, graduate students and undergraduate students will be presenting key issues including, the environment, ethics, business, health care, and education. The students involved with Convocation have been working tirelessly on this project since the beginning of summer and will be presenting at the event on October 23rd at 9 a.m. in Angelico. The presentation will be completely interactive.  After hearing about the issues/candidates, audience members will use a hand held electronic voting system to cast a vote.  The goal is to educate students and community members on the key issues being discussed in this year’s presidential election.   In addition, I want to remind everyone that it is very important that all students register to vote in this year’s election.  If you are not currently registered to vote, visit the IT department to pick up a voting registration form or ask the ASDU Director of Programming, Chantel Paniagua, for the necessary information.  Students can also register to vote at post offices, public libraries, and at your hometown city hall. 

I want to take a minute to point out that the room we are all sitting in right now is the only designated student meeting space on our campus.  This facility has been the student union for four years now, but our growth in enrollment and subsequent increase in student participation means that we need a more adequate facility on campus.  Student from on and off campus don’t have a central, common space to gather.  Part of my platform during last semester’s ASDU elections was to make  the administration aware of a need of a centralized student union on campus.   As part of the campus reorganization and development plan,  the University is looking into refurbishing the Albertus Magnus building (the old science building) to be used as a centralized student union.   Though this idea is liked by many individuals on campus, it is not yet finalized.  What ASDU needs you to do to make this work is to continue attending ASDU socials, club socials, etc so ASDU can prove to the administration that a large facility is needed for community building among all students. 
One of the most pressing contemporary issues is that of “greening” our world. Dominican has been changing its current policy to be a greener campus. The university has created a task force to tackle these issues. The task force has been creating policies and procedures to ensure the university stays on a green track. Two of the important tasks the Greener Dominican Task Force in conjunction with the Green Club and ASDU has implemented is a school wide recycling program.  In the next couple of months, bins will be placed in each residence hall, administration building, and academic building for paper, plastic, and aluminum.  The second project is the Dominican Discount project with local businesses on 4th street.   Participating business will provide a discount to Dominican Students who show their ID cards. You can pick up a list of participating businesses after the ASDU forum.

After concerns have been raised about safety at our dances, ASDU has developed a new dance policy procedure taken  to ensure the safety of all Dominican Students and their guests.  This new dance policy will mean no guest will be able to attend a dance without a Dominican student registering them under their name.  Each guest including Dominican students will be wearing wrists bands to distinguish who is a DU student and who is a guest. Guest’s wristbands will be a different color with the student ID number of the Dominican guest who registered them. In addition to the wrist bands, a Dominican student can not register more than 3 guests to a dance (however, boat dance is an exception).  Also, each guest in attendance will have to pay a $1 entrance fee.  All members of ASDU want to know that all guests in attendance at our dances are acting safe and having a fun experience.  It is also important that we as a community look out for suspicious guests and report any incidents that could possibly danger others at our dances.  If you suspect anyone of inappropriate behavior at the dance, please talk to any ASDU member or the San Rafael Police Officers at the dance. 

Finally, the most important issue surrounding all students at Dominican University of California is tuition.  Tuition increase is a reality that comes with any privately financed institution.  For those who might not know, each year tuition is increased by a percentage of the current rate. However, after many discussions with the administration regarding the release of the percentage increase, it has been agreed the administration will release the amount of the increase in March allowing students to prepare for finances for the following year.  In addition to the early awareness of tuition increases, the administration has also agreed to release a breakdown of where our tuition money is going at the university.  The document should be released for viewing in the next couple months.   The board of trustees will convene in February to discuss the tuition increase for the next academic year.
    

Tonight you have been handed a tremendous amount of information regarding the future of our university.  You are the future of this university and you need the tools to make change, tonight we hope you have received them.  I want you to know that I have and will keep true to my promise that I will keep you informed regarding what is happening at the university.  Finally, I would like to extend an invitation to an administrative forum October 22nd at 5:30 to 6:30 PM in the Creekside room, where you can personally ask President Joseph Fink, Provost Kenneth Porada, and the other Vice Presidents here at Dominican about anything you want. I hope to see you there. 
 

With that, thank you for your time.