Another Spring semester has started here at UMass, and while new students may be experiencing the campus for the first time, older students may notice some changes since classes ended last December. Case in point: Student Affairs.

As some may have already noticed, the offices of several student organizations have been relocated to different parts of the Campus Center. Such offices as the Student Senate and the Graduate Student Assembly have already made the transition and are now located next to each other on the 2nd floor of the Campus Center. The Mass Media (now located on the 3rd floor, having moved from the 2nd) will soon be joined by the Yearbook and Watermark offices sometime in the near future. The reasoning behind this transition is the consolidation of organizations with similar functions, so as to encourage the sharing of resources and information. Student governments will now be closer to each other, as well as to their advisors, in order to form a more cohesive student leadership body, while the student publications will be in closer proximity so as to facilitate easier sharing of resources, information and ideas.

Also included in the move are the ID and Student Life/Activities offices, which will eventually all be on the 2nd floor. This is so that students will no longer have to travel all over the Campus Center to take care of their affairs. In the past, one would have had to either walk up the stairs or take the somewhat heavily trafficked elevators to the 3rd floor specifically for the set purpose of dealing with ID and Student Life stuff. Now they may be reached more easily as students leave the catwalk and go on to their next bit of business.

Obviously, this is quite a large transition, as so many locations have been affected, but Vice Chancellor Day is confident that this will be a successful transition, and, hopefully, the last bit of moves will be finalized by mid-semester. The moves that have already taken place over the break took advantage of the fact that these offices were mostly unused while everyone was on hiatus, and not set to get up and running again until the semester began.

Other new developments have included the addition of certain members to the Administration of Student Affairs. Newly hired Director of Student Activities Shelby Harris joined the team just last week. She will be the one to oversee and head such efforts as the current opening week and the Winter Blast, but will have a greater role throughout her time here. Having previously held the position of Director of Student Activities at Merrimack College, Ms. Harris will bring in a wealth of experience as she also heads the oversight of student clubs and organizations, advises student governments and handles the organization of events, such as: concerts, trips and major talks that will occur over this semester and future ones.