Students establish Union-Schenectady Alliance to revitalize the College's hometown
Cara Gallivan
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: News
Thus, as DeBartolo mentioned, the problems of Schenectady are the problems of Union. Active participation in solving those problems from students as well as the administration only seems reasonable.
Noticeable improvements have been made in the recent five years, including downtown's new movie theater, hotel and restaurants, largely through the efforts of Metroplex. With student support of and participation in such changes, the committee hopes to see that Union's campus culture would expand into downtown.
Aware of the student safety issues of traveling, the committee has proposed several initiatives for ensuring security. In the Alliance Committee's meeting this week, Walker reported that there are talks of establishing regular trolley service, as well as a well-lit and surveillance-camera-lined "safety corridor" between campus and State Street.
Extended service to State or Jay Street would not only be convenient and safe for students, but would be a large step in the direction of increasing student financial support for the new businesses. In itself, this would be a collaborative effort between Union and Schenectady. Director of Campus Safety Bill Sickinger reported that Union is "currently discussing this issue with the city" to come up with ways to make the commute safe and easy for students.
Fostering the growth and frequency of such interactions between students and community is what the Union-Schenectady Alliance is all about. When DeBartolo and Walker presented their vision of what it would take to make Schenectady a place that students and people of all ages would want to make a home and find work in, forming this mutual trust and respect was the crux.
"This goes beyond clean streets and tax rates," Walker emphasized. "It goes beyond crime and businesses and schools. This goes to the core of what makes a difference… If Schenectady becomes a city in which the people respect the city, care about each other, identify with the community, and do everything they can to make it a better place, it would be a city we never want to leave. This all starts by bringing people together to connect with each other, through the town."
In order to create that essential trust, the members of the Union-Schenectady Alliance have committed themselves to making such connections between city and students far more commonplace than they currently are. Most liaisons have already met with their affiliated organizations downtown.
"Every organization downtown and every student on-campus who I asked to participate in the Union-Schenectady Alliance said they'd be thrilled to. We have an incredible group of students and fantastic faculty advisors that I can't wait to keep working with," Walker said.
The committee will meet weekly on Mondays in the Wold House seminar room at 1 pm and welcomes interested and innovative-thinking students to come and contribute.
Noticeable improvements have been made in the recent five years, including downtown's new movie theater, hotel and restaurants, largely through the efforts of Metroplex. With student support of and participation in such changes, the committee hopes to see that Union's campus culture would expand into downtown.
Aware of the student safety issues of traveling, the committee has proposed several initiatives for ensuring security. In the Alliance Committee's meeting this week, Walker reported that there are talks of establishing regular trolley service, as well as a well-lit and surveillance-camera-lined "safety corridor" between campus and State Street.
Extended service to State or Jay Street would not only be convenient and safe for students, but would be a large step in the direction of increasing student financial support for the new businesses. In itself, this would be a collaborative effort between Union and Schenectady. Director of Campus Safety Bill Sickinger reported that Union is "currently discussing this issue with the city" to come up with ways to make the commute safe and easy for students.
Fostering the growth and frequency of such interactions between students and community is what the Union-Schenectady Alliance is all about. When DeBartolo and Walker presented their vision of what it would take to make Schenectady a place that students and people of all ages would want to make a home and find work in, forming this mutual trust and respect was the crux.
"This goes beyond clean streets and tax rates," Walker emphasized. "It goes beyond crime and businesses and schools. This goes to the core of what makes a difference… If Schenectady becomes a city in which the people respect the city, care about each other, identify with the community, and do everything they can to make it a better place, it would be a city we never want to leave. This all starts by bringing people together to connect with each other, through the town."
In order to create that essential trust, the members of the Union-Schenectady Alliance have committed themselves to making such connections between city and students far more commonplace than they currently are. Most liaisons have already met with their affiliated organizations downtown.
"Every organization downtown and every student on-campus who I asked to participate in the Union-Schenectady Alliance said they'd be thrilled to. We have an incredible group of students and fantastic faculty advisors that I can't wait to keep working with," Walker said.
The committee will meet weekly on Mondays in the Wold House seminar room at 1 pm and welcomes interested and innovative-thinking students to come and contribute.
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Rick Gallivan
posted 2/19/08 @ 12:16 AM EST
What a wonderful article and mission for the students of Union. I am very proud of all of them, especially Cara. Too bad some people don't get it (you know who you are!). (Continued…)
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