The ask a student senate member segment is a bi-weekly question-and-answer article with a student senator. Michael Stopka, a junior political science major, has been involved in student government since spring 2009. He has been distinguished by Isaac Sandidge, student speaker of the senate, as “one of the senators who got the most done for students last semester and an overall great senator.”

Stopka currently serves as chair of the shuttle bus committee as well as a member of the Student Action Team.

Please explain your past service to the students.

I’ve served on the shuttle bus committee since the spring when I got on the senate, and then I was the chair of the committee.

We had several projects that we were working on. One of the projects that were delayed was the bus schedules. That’s the top priority for the committee this semester, and also advertisements to promote the shuttle bus.

I’ve also gone with Eric Wilber as part of the Student Action Team to Springfield twice, I believe, to get the funds for the (Monetary Award Program) grant, and in spring ’09, we had the letter-writing campaign for the Renewable Energy Center.

What is the purpose of the shuttle bus committee

on campus?

Basically, we work with the students and the administration to better the service, advertise it and make any changes and improvements.

I know that you worked on the shuttle bus logo campaign. How did that go?

We had to follow guidelines that the university has put forward, and those are very strict guidelines for what a logo can or cannot have, so the submissions we had, we can’t use in any way to advertise the shuttle bus, so I believe the Communications Office in Old Main is going to design a logo for us that we can put on the schedule and get those printed ASAP.

We did have a winner, but the logo didn’t follow the guidelines. Basically, it’s like a 16-page book that tells you how to design a logo. It’s complicated, so we hit that bump in the road and the schedules were delayed, but that’s our top priority.

What has been the effect of your efforts heading the shuttle bus committee on campus so far? Have you gotten any type of reaction from the campus community?

I believe that we made a good effort to work with the administration and with the students to lead the shuttle bus committee. We can be the bridge between the administration and the students, and we also have a survey we’ll be sending out so the students can comment with any suggestions or whatever their opinions are.

Speaking of the survey, have you generated any other feedback from the campus?

We asked students to help us with the questions on the survey and asked them what they use the shuttle bus to get to and what they think of the fee associated with the service. I believe it’s around $10. Every student pays for the shuttle bus, so they should probably utilize it as much as possible.

Has your committee planned any other activities for the semester?

We’ll be getting students together and working with the Student Action Team to go to Springfield to show them that we care about our issues and we don’t know what’s going to happen with the MAP grant next semester and the budget problems and all that.

What are the benefits of getting involved on this committee?

I believe that it’s something that affects the students because they use the shuttle bus and it’s a very important service.

How did you originally get involved on the shuttle bus committee?

I was on the student senate and I had a problem with the shuttle service. I was waiting by County Market and it was really snowy and cold and I waited for over 40 minutes and when I finally got out, the shuttle bus sat there for like a second and rode off, and I had to chase the shuttle bus, and I decided to get involved with that.

Have you seen any changes?

I believe the service has excellent drivers and I use the service all the time to get to Wal-Mart and other places. The service is great.

I noticed that on the bus it says, “go green.get on the bus!” Is this a green service?

Basically, we want the students to utilize the bus instead of driving to Wal-Mart and carpool instead. The more people who get on the bus, the less people driving around.

Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

We’re here for the students and we’re always interested in feedback. They can always work with us on a committee. Student government is their tool and it’s there to utilize.

Erica Whelan can be reached at 581-7492 or elwhelan@eiu.edu