Nearing the midway point in his administration, Student Government President Stuart Watkins has completed 10 of the 34 items on the pushcard, while conceding five of the 34 items may not be feasible during his time in office.Watkins said he would give himself a B+ grade for his administration so far.”There are no regrets, but we could have done some things better,” Watkins said. “The way we were handling the appointments at the beginning of the semester was not efficient, and we have changed that and are moving on.”Watkins said since drawing the ire of some senators over unfilled positions, all the open positions were filled aside from some positions which recently opened up because of resignations.SG Senate speaker Tyler Martin, who did not run on the More ticket said the administration has done a competent job so far aside from the appointment issues.Apart from items on the pushcard, Watkins said he is proud he and SG Vice President Martina Scheuermann were able to represent the student body at the legislative session during the summer. Watkins testified to the Senate Finance Committee while Scheuermann testified against the TOPS cap bill, which eventually failed. Watkins said seeing the implementation of the night bus route taking students from campus to local bars and back is one of the highlights of his administration.”It’s something that I was very passionate about because I have seen so many people that live on campus get in their cars drive to the bars, then drive back home at night,” Watkins said. “When we met with First Transit, that was the biggest thing we pushed.”Watkins said he is looking forward to making progress on building a proposal for state legislation which would lead to tax-free text books.The chief economic adviser for the executive staff is currently doing research which Watkins is confident will lead to tangible legislation for tax-free text books for the 2010 legislative session.Watkins said he is optimistic this initiative can pass because he received support from the Louisiana Council of College Presidents.The appointment of Cas Smith as the director of sustainability is the only sustainability initiative sustainability Watkins has completed to date. Watkins said he has added several green initiatives since the new position was created, including assisting with recycling in Tiger Stadium.Watkins completed four of his nine athletics initiatives.Watkins said he secured a 5 percent discount for concessions in Tiger Stadium for students who use their Tiger Card. Watkins has also successfully lobbied to have the ticket marketplace Web site revamped and has secured more bag check lines for home football games. Watkins said this season an extra bag check line was added to the student entrance to Tiger Stadium. One extra bag check line will be added just for the Florida game, and students will be able to use the SG offices on the first floor of the Student Union to print their football tickets, Watkins said.SG is also in the process of planning bus trips to away games for the upcoming basketball and baseball seasons.Watkins said his administration was able to cut the costs of the SG away football game trip, allowing them to consider the option of away game trips for other sports.Watkins has also provided more locations for free bluebooks and scantrons, which are now being distributed at the library help desk and new SG offices. Vending machines in Middleton Library and the creation of a bike safety guide on the SG Web site are also initiatives Watkins has completed.Watkins said he is proud of the progress he has made so far, but he conceded some initiatives won’t be completed during his administration although he will continue working on them.Watkins said creating a syllabus database on PAWS is not possible because of the high costs and legality issues involving professor ownership of their syllabi. Instead Watkins said they are working with the various colleges to create databases on the individual colleges’ Web sites.Watkins also said creating a lighted Tiger Trail through campus and enabling University-wide purchasing of recycled paper will likely not be possible during his term because of the high costs involved.Freshmen couldn’t purchase full-season football ticket packages. Watkins said high demand exceeded the supply, but some students were able to purchase some of the extra tickets left after the initial ordering period.Scheuermann said printing emergency numbers on students’ Tiger Cards will also not be possible this year because the Tiger Card office ordered enough cards to last them at least through this year before Watkins and Scheuermann were elected.Lack of visibility is a complaint of Ricky Lanza, political science senior.”If Stuart walked up to me, I wouldn’t know who the guy is,” Lanza said. “You only hear about them through the newspaper, and they have a Web site.”- – – -Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]