Moving into the last semester of their administration, Student Government President Stuart Watkins and Vice President Martina Scheuermann completed 14 of the 34 items on their campaign pushcard and conceded five of the 34 items may not be feasible.Watkins and Scheuermann said they would give themselves an A- for their progress so far.”We haven’t been perfect,” Scheuermann said. “But I feel like we have accomplished a lot and are making progress on things students can benefit from.”The SG president drew the ire of some SG senators over unfilled committee appointments during the first half of the semester.Watkins told The Daily Reveille on Oct. 8 he could have handled the appointments in a more efficient manner and said he had since filled all the appointments.Scheuermann said she wants to have more outreach with students moving into their last semester in office.”We have done things like Straight Talk in creative places, but I still feel like its not enough,” Scheuermann said. “I feel like we can reach out to students even more and see what they have to stay.”The Chats series and the Straight Talk series are SG’s most personal methods of student outreach and were not as well attended as the semester drew to a close. The last Straight Talk — which typically features the SG President accompanied by various members of the executive staff and members of the Senate — featured only one lone senator passing out scantrons between Tureaud and CEBA.Watkins said SG is now finding ways to better utilize social media to reach students.The last Chats featured Mary Parker, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Aid. Parker stood in Free Speech Alley for a full hour, but only one student not involved with SG sought her input because most students had no way of knowing who she was.Of the initiatives completed this semester, Watkins and Scheuermann said they are most excited about the recent success of the holiday shuttle system, which transported students to and from local airports for the Thanksgiving Holiday.Watkins also said he was proud of how his administration has centered spending more on what students ask for.”We put Battle of the Bands on a game day where it was able not only able to reach more students, but the Baton Rouge community as a whole,” Watkins said. “The last Battle of the Bands was held on Friday night and only like 20 students would show up. That is not an effective way to utilize student fees.”Watkins also offered the example of the Groovin’ on the Grounds Survey as letting nearly 5,000 students have a say in which the more than $100,000 is spent.Looking to next semester, Watkins said he is especially excited about the potential and progress of SG’s preparation to lobby for tax free textbooks. SG Chief Economic Adviser Greg Upton said he has created an analysis to quantify the effect on the legislature’s budget if there was no sales tax on text books.Upton said the report is currently being finalized and will be unveiled at the beginning of the spring semester.Once unveiled, the project will be presented to the legislature, Metro Council and School Board.Upton said SG’s ultimate goal is to have no sales tax on textbooks.”This speaks greatly about the students at LSU and SG because we did the research and now we have the data and are ready to get behind a cause that could impact every single student in Louisiana,” Watkins said.Watkins said he plans to personally evaluate student fees next semester to determine where the money is going and evaluate the result of the funds to see if they are necessary to students.”If we learned anything it’s students care about money, so we are going to throw our attention that way,” Watkins said. “If Martina and I can take anything off the fee bill, then that will be a huge win for students.”The executive staff is also working on increasing security camera presence on campus and a system for dining hall composting among smaller initiatives.Watkins told The Daily Reveille in October 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.Creating a syllabus database on PAWS isn’t possible because of the high costs and legality issues involving professor ownership of their syllabi, Watkins said.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 also 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.But Watkins is not without his critics.”I have seen a lack of [Watkins’] presence in discussions and meetings that are crucial to Student Government,” said Sen. Aaron Caffarel, University Center for Freshman Year. Sen. Tiffany Compagno, College of Education, agrees with Caffarel but thinks Watkins may be judged to harshly because he has less experience in SG and he has large shoes to fill after the last president.”There have not been major mishaps under Stuart’s administration,” Compagno said. “Some things have been lacking like attendance to meetings and a general knowledge of everything that is going on. He definitely had big shoes to fill and some people who have been in SG longer may judge him more hard because he doesn’t have as much experience.”—-Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]