In the first Student Government President’s cabinet meeting of the semester, SG President Colorado Robertson announced that home game student ticket prices will remain $12 per student next football season. Despite looming University budget cuts, Robertson said Athletic Department staff told him ticket prices for both football and baseball games will be unaffected by price changes across campus. Though student ticket prices will remain the same, the upcoming budget cuts have put many of the University’s colleges on their guard. Joe Coussan, Mass Communication College Council president, said his college is planning a petition to the state to try and shield the University from the worst of the budget cuts.”To say the plan is in its infancy is an overstatement,” Coussan said. “Hopefully down the road we can work with the executive staff to implement a campaign.”Coussan said the Manship School of Mass Communication is talking about putting together letters and petitions to give state officials in order to keep the cuts to the University to a minimum. Coussan said he is not sure what the campaign will involve, but that it should be student led and run.During the meeting, Robertson and his cabinet also discussed a proposal to cut the University’s summer reading program. Only 20.59 percent of freshmen participated in the 2008 summer reading program by reading some or all of the assigned book, according to statistics from the Office of Academic Affairs, — a 56.76 percent drop from participation in 2005.Only 23 percent of new students attended the discussion of “The Complete Persepolis,” during the 2008 freshman orientation.Though there has been no definite word on cutting the estimated $100,000 program, Robertson said SG would support using the recovered funds on other freshman year experiences including Stripes and Bengal Bound.The cabinet continued talks on the proposed $500,000 renovations to expand collaborative learning spaces in Middleton Library. Included in the proposed plans are two new study rooms on the third and fourth floors and a new room with recording and projection technology which would allow students to practice class presentations before they go before a live audience.Stressing technological improvements to the library’s study rooms, proposed renovations would include new computer systems designed to aid students with group learning environments. New hardware and software will allow students to link laptops so multiple people will be able to work on the same screen or document.While there wasn’t much argument from the cabinet, there was some question as to whether the third and fourth floors of Middleton were the most appropriate spaces for students to collaborate on projects.”I would never want to go study on those floors because the atmosphere is so staunch,” said Jenny Kornuta, Residential Hall Association president.Robertson has also suggested relocating the different offices of the Center for Academic Success into the first floor of Middleton.——Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]