The need to renovate Norman Hall and the discontinuation of UF’s TapShield app were discussed at Tuesday night’s UF Student Government meeting.
Recommendations for committee chairs were also passed unanimously. Austin Champoux (Impact) was approved as Allocations Chair, and Andrea Newport-Jones was approved as Information and Communications Chair (Impact).
Smith Meyers (Impact, Budget and Appropriations Chairman), Jason Richards (Impact, Judiciary) and Maddie McClinton (Swamp, Rules and Ethics Commitee Chair) kept their seats.
Matthew Hoeck (Access), director of external affairs, spoke in favor of the Norman Hall resolution, which says SG supports Norman Hall renovations. The building has had issues with water contamination and bug infestations.
"There are rare chances we have where we can feel like we’re moving our university in the right direction," Hoeck said, in regards to the resolution.
UF’s education school needs renovating, McClinton said. Norman was built in 1932 and has had few renovations since then. It serves about 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Ed Posey, a university police administrative coordinator, said UF’s TapShield app will be discontinued after Nov. 30. The company that makes the app is trying to sell it to someone else.
UF will be creating a new app, SafeGator, which could be completed in three to four weeks, he said.
The university is still working on creating the app and determining its content, he said.
The app will cost UF $3,000 a year, he said. TapShield was created under former UF Student Body President Christina Bonarrigo (Unite) and cost $50,000 to make, according to Alligator archives.
"If nothing else, it’s inexpensive," Posey said.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
