HLS Student Government

Hey guys, so we’re soliciting some feedback for improvements/changes you’d like to see made in Hemenway. Below is a tentative list we’ve come up with – but please feel free to disagree, or add! You can either post your comments below, or send us an email at  studentgov at law.harvard.edu

Website:

- Clearer gym hours on website

- Clearer class schedules on website

- Schedule of when basketball court is booked online to inform pick-up b-ball players

- Better athletic facility emails

Hours:

-  Extend Hemenway hours on Fridays and Saturdays

-  proposal could be gradual, increase by an hour or two at first

Equipment:

Recommendations to add:

-       Heavy Bags

-       Thai Pads

-       Wrestling Mats

-       New scales in the men’s room

-       27.5 pound free weights

Maintenance:

-       TV’s, and/or clearer explanation why they are broken and taking so long to fix

-       Regularly mop and sweep basketball court

• Injury and playability concern

-       More diligent repair and response to repair sheets

-       Tightening, lubricating, and cleaning bars/plates/etc.

Machine and Other Facility Sign Ups:

Cardio Machine sign-up issues:

- General problem of people signing up for multiple slots

-  Erase people who sign-up more than 2 hours before

-  Reservations on-line

-  Diagram of bikes by sign-up sheets

-  Some machines with longer times/HLS only machines

Other sign ups:

-  Reservations on-line for squash and pick-up basketball

Classes:

-  More classes of any kind on the weekends

-  Correlate classes with law school schedules

-  More spinning classes

Other:

- Music that is more consistent

- higher volume, continuous playing

2 quick things:

1. Many of you have notified us about the state of the library bathrooms on the weekends. Good news – we’ve talked to the library and they will be bringing back weekend library cleaning services!!

2. Just a reminder that the stairwells carry noise throughout the library. Please be respectful to your fellow library patrons and use your “indoor voice” in the stairwells. Just proves once again how important kindergarten is.

A couple of things that Student Government has lately been working on with Facilities Management:

- Inspired by your comments, we’ve asked for the Hark to remain open until 2 am so students have a place on the law school campus to study after the library closes. The Hark will now be open until 2am Sunday-Thursday! On Fridays and Saturdays, the Hark will close at 10pm.

- Some of you have mentioned lately about darkness in the tunnels. Lights will now also stay on until 2 am!

- You may have noticed the new door signs in the Hark on the doors in the main room downstairs (the non-cafe part.) As a courtesy to other patrons in these upcoming cold (brr) months, please use the external Hark doors.

- You’ve probably seen the Facilities Management emails, but just in case: a reminder that if you think your classroom is higher or lower than 70F, please email  facmgmt at law.harvard.edu! The faster they know, the more they can do. It’s helpful to include the classroom number, the time, and if possible, your seat number.

See below for some recent news from Hemenway and the Athletic Department. Also note the upcoming online reservation system for Hemenway squash courts, an initiative the Student Government is proud to have brought you in conjunction with the HLS Squash Club!

FACILITY INFORMATION

• Blodgett Pool will be closed for recreational swim on  Saturday, October 24th. It will be open Sunday, October 25th from 12-6pm.
  
• Please contact George at macmast@fas.harvard.edu with any questions.
• The Murr Center will be closed on Saturday, October 24th for the home football game.
• For current facility hours and special closings for October & November please go to http://recreation.gocrimson.com/recreation/hours

• SQUASH RESERVATIONS: In the beginning of November we are implementing a new online reservation system for squash at Hemenway Gymnasium. Additional information about the new system will be available soon.

PROGRAMS

• Fall Group Exercise Classes are now in session at the MAC and Hemenway Gymnasium. Both schedules are now available online at http://recreation.gocrimson.com/fitness/schedules
  • Please note the following dates when GX classes will not be held in November:
    
    • MAC: No classes Wednesday, 11/11 or Wednesday 11/25-Sunday 11/29.
      
    • HEMENWAY: No classes Wednesday, 11/11 or Thursday, 11/26-Sunday, 11/29.
      
    • HEMENWAY: On Wednesday, 11/25 only morning classes including 7:00 IC, 7:15am Mat Pilates & 8:30am Vinyasa Yoga will be held at Hemenway. All GX classes beginning after 11:00am are canceled.
      

• Thriller Dance Workshop: Have you always wanted to learn the famous dance moves from Michael Jackson’s Thriller Video?
  Join in the fun on Wednesday, October 28th in the MAC Mezzanine from 4:30-5:25pm.  Please register at the front desk of the MAC or Hemenway  by Wednesday, October 28th. Space is limited so sign up early! There is a $5.00 registration fee per person. Please contact Cristina Hoff at hemfit@fas.harvard.edu with any additional questions.

• Strength Training Orientations: Looking for an efficient workout? Sign up for a Strength Training Orientation! A Personal Trainer will lead each 45-minute group session will teach you how to use the weight machines in the express circuit, along with basic use of cardio machines. Each participant will receive a strength worksheet. There is a $5.00 fee for the orientation and pre-registration is required. Sign up at the front desk at least 24 hours in advance. Orientations with less than 3 participants enrolled with be canceled due to low enrollment.

• Upcoming Strength Training Orientations at Hemenway
• Wednesday, November 4th: 12:00-12:45pm
• Tuesday, Novembr 10th 5:30-6:15pm
  Please contact Kerry Smith at ptrainer@fas.harvard.edu with any questions.
  Upcoming Strength Training Orientations at the MAC

• Wednesday, November 4th 5:00-5:45pm
• Tuesday, November 10th 12:30-1:15pm
• Please contact Kate Doherty at fitness@fas.harvard.edu with any questions.

Many of you have been writing to us with concerns about the cold temperatures in buildings. Many thanks for bringing this to our attention! A couple of things to note about temps:

- You can directly voice your concerns to facilities management, either by calling 617-495-5521 or by emailing them at  facmgmt at law.harvard.edu.

- Significant changes have not been made about the HLS set points for room temps…so some of what you’re experiencing is just normal fluctuation

- The climate control system uses unconditioned outside air to cool rooms when it can (I’m not a science person….but basically this means sometimes it feels like cool air is being pumped in when really it’s just getting colder outside)

Hope this helps – if you have further questions, feel free to contact us or Facilities Management!

A quick look at our recent accomplishments:

• Student Government Pub Nights: very popular weekly happy hours for students, with free beer and wine (starting this year on Thursday, Oct. 1!)
• Faculty-Student Lunch Program: every year, we arrange for students to have free lunches with distinguished HLS professors.
• Organize and distribute Unofficial Course Evaluations each semester.
• Solicited, collected, and presented student feedback regarding the grade change to Dean Kagan.
• Solicited, collected, and presented student feedback regarding the switch to the Early Interview Program to Office of Career Services.
• Formed and headed a student committee to meet with President Faust on the new dean search.
• Changed news@law in order to allow students to plan their weeks more conveniently.
• Convinced administration to buy toasters for the 2008-2009 free Monday morning bagel breakfasts.
• Obtained Splenda, strawberry cream cheese, and Heinz ketchup in the Hark.
• Worked with Restaurant Associates to respond to vegetarian students’ needs, including increased quantity of vegetarian sushi and better vegetarian labeling.
• Increased quantity of sweat towels at the Hemenway gym.
• Successfully advocated to see the Hark re-open from 2:30-5:00 to serve students’ needs in 2009.
• Distributed bags filled with candy and faculty advice to the 1Ls when they received their grades.
• Created a database of 3Ls willing to give 2Ls advice on applying to law firms.
• Dodgeball tournament (co-sponsored with HL Central and the intramural sports).
• Approved of many new students groups in 2008-2009.

One of the largest issues we hear from students on is the temperature in classrooms.  Generally speaking, students feel it is too cold in many of the classrooms and that it got worse this semester.

We talked with facilities to get a little more info about this problem.  The main issue is, not surprisingly, it is very difficult to keep these rooms at a consistent temperature throughout the room and at all times.  With the large open spaces of many of the rooms, and the hundreds of people filing in and out of the rooms for different periods of time, it can be difficult to maintain a consistent temperature.

That’s all fine, but why – you ask – did it seem worse this semester?  Well, in part, you were right.  It was colder in the rooms.  In an effort to be more eco-friendly (and, yes, probably to save a bit of money), facilities lowered the set temperature of the rooms.  I’m not sure what the original set point of the rooms was, but I know the new one was around 71 this semester.  Not a very cold temperature, but given the inherent fluctuations in temperature in these rooms, it left less room for error, and thus students more often felt cold.

Also, upon occassion, when you felt cold air blowing on you in the middle of the winter, that wasn’t the a/c coming on.  That was the climate control system sensing that the room was warming up too much and pumping in outside (cool) air to cool the room off.

It is true, of course, that occasionally room sensors malfunction and it legitimately is colder or hotter than facilities intends it to be in a room.  If you feel there is something substantially wrong with the temperature in your classroom, you can always email facmgmt@law.harvard.edu with the exact time and location within the room that you experience what you perceived to be an excessively cold/hot temperature.  They will promptly send someone out to measure the temperature in that location of the room to ensure the climate control system is working properly.

So, bottom line… the school was not purposely trying to freeze us out.  They were just trying to be a bit more eco-friendly.  Hopefully that is an idea that we can all get behind.

Brian