Point Park students may have access to more discounts at local businesses, provided that the student government is successful in its mission to create discount cards.
At Monday’s United Student Government (USG) meeting, Vice President Andrew LeDonne presented the executive cabinet’s idea of discount cards, which will be a formal card, similar to the size of a student ID that can be presented at participating businesses to receive their discount.
“We saw some other schools do it, and we liked it,” LeDonne said. “It would just have probably five to 10 different businesses, and we’d have agreements with them that when you present this card at the business, you get some sort of discount – whether it’s a free drink with a meal or 10 percent off your purchase, something like that.”
LeDonne mentioned that Point Park receives discounts from some businesses neighboring the University, but the agreements were established a couple years ago, so USG is unsure if those businesses still honor the discounts.
“We want to create a unified system,” President Julian Singleton said. “We really want to branch out to all the places students frequent, like the Starbucks in Market Square because when ours is closed, a lot of students go there and lots of places in Market Square. We just want to branch out and try to get students as much as possible.”
Also at the meeting, the legislative body discussed and prepared for USG’s annual forum, which was from 7-11 p.m. on Nov. 11 in the Lawrence Hall Ballroom. The forum is one of USG’s biggest annual events, and it was put in place to collect student concerns in a unique atmosphere.
This year’s forum is Disney-themed, which Singleton says he helps students bring back their inner child.
“We’ve been doing nostalgic kind of themes,” Singleton said. “We want to bring back almost an age of innocence, so to speak…back before life got complicated.”
Occasionally, USG representatives sit at tables in various heavily trafficked areas across campus and collect written student concerns or request that students put their concerns in boxes located across campus. The forum, however, allows USG representatives to connect with students on a more personal level, while still gathering concerns.
“Forum is a way to get face time with the students and entice them to give us comments, concerns and issues on campus…so that we can then work on amending those, getting things right for them,” LeDonne said.
Singleton looks forward to forum because it gives USG members the opportunity to get to know students better, and also for students to be able to recognize who represents them on campus – a goal USG has been trying to accomplish all semester, even holding a Get to Know your Senator campaign on USG’s Facebook page.
USG has a number of events planned for forum, including a Disney karaoke contest, a costume contest, Disney plinko and foam sword jousting.
“Throughout all of these events [and] activities, we’re just going to talk to the students,” Singleton said. “It’s not going to be like, ‘Hey, can you take this survey?’…We’re gonna be like, ‘Let’s have a conversation,’ and I think that’s the best way to gauge concerns.”
