President Lester Lefton is “really excited” about Undergraduate Student Senate’s projects and plans for the semester, USS Executive Director Ross Miltner said.

The senators had their first formal meeting of the semester with Lefton Monday and discussed how the meeting went at USS’ public meeting yesterday.

“I thought it went well,” Miltner said. “I’m looking forward to the next one. I want to make all our conversations very productive and timely to events going on.”

The senators discussed issues such as retention, proposed changes for the freshman forgiveness policy, the university’s relationship with the city of Kent and possible changes to the University Orientation program.

Christen Coppola, senator for student relations, said the meeting with Lefton gave her the idea to start a focus group about the Orientation program.

“What I’d like to do is not fill it with people like Dean (of Undergraduate Studies Gary) Padak who are pro-Orientation,” she said. “I want to also have people from both sides (of the program).”

USS will meet with Lefton two more times before the semester is over. Justin Jeffery, senator for community affairs, said he would like the future meetings with Lefton to be tailored to certain issues, such as city connections or student relations.

Lefton also met with Miltner individually before meeting with all the senators. In Miltner’s meeting, they discussed Homecoming, the Music Listening Center and the projects USS is working on.

Miltner said Lefton was interested in bringing back the Homecoming parade and “expressed interest in looking at the issue.”

Plans for the Music Listening Center and commuter student lounge were also brought up to Lefton. Miltner said the center will be “revamped” to meet “modern student needs.” Some of the proposed improvements include recharging stations for iPods or laptops and making the room an “iLounge” with iPod listening stations.

Also at the meeting, the senators discussed plans for the Nov. 7 election. Amy Groya, senator for governmental affairs, said buses from campus to the polls will be running from 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Groya said she feels the voter buses may not be used as much as in previous elections.

“I think a lot of people are going to be voting absentee,” she said.

Contact student politics reporter Kali Price at [email protected].