Students are not the only ones working behind the scenes for Butler’s Student Government Association.

The PuLSE Office has four individuals who advise SGA and its various boards.

Dean of Student Life Irene Stevens said the role of an SGA adviser is to help executive members do the job to the best of their ability and help them avoid pitfalls they may encounter.

“I don’t necessarily always have the answers,” said Caroline Huck-Watson, director of the PuLSE Office. “But I can also help direct someone to figure out where those are.”

Huck-Watson advises the Council on Presidential Affairs, Finance Board, the SGA president and SGA’s Executive Board. As PuLSE director, she also helps other staff advisers when issues arise.

SGA President Al Carroll said the advisers are there to say when students are or are not on the right track.

“We don’t always agree with them,” Carroll said. “But that’s the way it is.”

She said that while there are no specific guidelines for her to follow as adviser, there are expectations in terms of the role she plays. She said the entire PuLSE staff follows university law and procedures.

She said that doing so allows the advisers to help students navigate university systems.

Other PuLSE advisers include Julie Pakenham, associate director; Rob Miller, assistant director; and Jen Agnew, assistant director.

The PuLSE staff reports to Stevens.

“I also work with the exec on some issues occasionally,” Stevens said. “It’s not unusual for me to have a meeting with the president of SGA, in particular the CPA president and vice president, about various issues.”

Stevens also said that her role allows her to attend various SGA assemblies.

“It gives me a sense of what’s going on with students and what the issues are that they’re dealing with,” Stevens said. “I do enjoy going in and hearing what they’re talking about.”

Stevens said the advisers are able to provide students with a historical perspective of SGA and the university.

“I rely on Caroline quite a bit,” SGA President-elect Mike Keller said. “Al has been great with the transition, but Caroline is who I look to for knowledge of the past.”

Huck-Watson said she sees challenging students as one of her roles.

“I would hope my role is that when students are making decisions, I’m helping them see a variety of different perspectives so that they can make the most informed decision that they can at that time,” Huck-Watson said.

She said she is ever-evolving as an adviser.

“It’s such a moment of pride to see a student be a successful leader, to make change on campus, to really feel empowered, to lead a group and to make decisions that have an impact on our community,” Huck-Watson said. “That happens every year. It’s so wonderful.”

Keller said he’s already had a great experience working with the advisers leading up to his transition into office.

The advisers sat in on his vice president interviews.

“It is my decision,” Keller said. “None of them tried to influence it, but they were able to provide a lot of helpful pros and cons for each candidate.”

Carroll said he has great respect and gratitude for all of the SGA advisers.

“They make my life easier,” Carroll said. “I’m thankful for that.”

Huck-Watson said she is blessed to have the opportunity to work with Butler students in such a profound way.

“I look around sometimes at events and things that are going on that our students are accomplishing,” Huck-Watson said. “It just takes my breath away sometimes.”

Butler University and Student Government Association launched a new pilot service last weekend that allows students to track campus shuttles via GPS from a variety of platforms.

The system, called DoubleMap, will be free to Butler students for an undetermined period of time on a trial basis.

“It’s kind of three-way beneficial,” Rob Miller, assistant director of the PuLSE office, said. “It’s beneficial for the students that will use our shuttles, it’s beneficial for the university and SGA operations board because there’s no cost, and it’s beneficial for [DoubleMap] because they’re gathering data.”

With DoubleMap, students will know not only when the shuttle will arrive but also its exact location relative to them.

Students can view the program at bu.doublemap.com/map and visit the link from any computer, laptop, smartphone or other internet-accessible device. A satellite map will be displayed with the shuttle’s routes already drawn out. When the shuttles are running, the indicators move on the map in real-time.

The website is compatible across all platforms, including iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

For those without 3G or 4G coverage, Kelsa Reynolds, vice president of operations for SGA, said a smartphone application is on the way.

“To be able to get the app, we had to first launch the website, and now the company will be working on setting up an app for us to be able to utilize on smartphones,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the main concern from students regarding the shuttles was students being forced to stand outside in the cold, not knowing when a shuttle would arrive, according to surveys administered through SGA in spring and winter.

“I know students who are used to waiting out in the cold that really appreciate it,” Peter SerVaas, DoubleMap co-officer of operations and development, said. “Getting it installed as fast as possible was important. We’ll be able to beat winter, basically.”

With the launch occurring only a few days ago, student feedback is still coming in.

“I would use the service to find the shuttle if I needed to know, but it’s not going to make me ride it more,” junior pharmacy major Lisa LeCleir said.

Miller said the reason Butler was chosen for the pilot program was primarily to compare the system’s effect on a smaller campus to its success in larger areas like Bloomington, where the system is used at Indiana University.

“DoubleMap came to us and said, ‘We’ve seen it work on larger populations, and we want to see if it will work on smaller populations,’” Miller said. “The reason we decided to try it was to find out: Are Butler students interested in it? Does it make the shuttles more functional?”

DoubleMap started as a student government project at Indiana University and has evolved into a company.

Ilya Rekhter, DoubleMap operations and development co-officer, said their program works better for smaller schools.

“You have big schools with big budgets that can afford to use expensive bus tracking systems,” she said. “With our systems, they’re even more applicable to smaller schools, because there aren’t any large upfront costs.”

SerVaas said it has been successful in terms of what it offers students.

“We want to eventually show Butler what the system is capable of and allow the university to evaluate its value to their students, as well as those who operate the system,” he said.

Rekhter said the real-time features are also major advances for the system.

“I’m really excited because they update every one to two seconds, so they move really seamlessly,” Rekhter said. “Our old system moved every seven to 10 seconds.”

SGA runs one shuttle every Friday and Saturday to and from Broad Ripple and Glendale Mall starting at 7:30 p.m. and another  to downtown on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month starting at 2 p.m.

Working on a group project, sticking to a workout routine and planning out a road trip all take planning and work from all members of a group. Starting a student organization is no different.

Two new student organizations, Urban Arts Crew and Help Heal Haiti, were officially recognized at the Oct. 10 Student Government Association assembly meeting.

But their process started long before assembly.

“For a student organization to be created, it needs to be student-driven,” said Caroline Huck-Watson, PULSE Office Director, said.

She said occasionally an organization will call and want to add a chapter on campus, but students must be the ones who motion toward the application for the new organization.

“The passion needs to be in the students,” she said.

There are a few requirements that must be met before applying for a new organization: there must initially be four interested students, who will become the officers of the organization; there must be a full-time faculty or staff member as the advisor of the organization; and the officers must create a constitution.

Once the constitution is created, the officers must meet with Huck-Watson to review it and go over anything that might need revising.

“The constitution should guide the group,” Huck-Watson said.

After the student organization has met with the Pulse Office Director, they must e-mail

sga@butler.edu their constitution.

The members then arrange for the interested group to make a short presentation with all of the SGA executive officers at their weekly meeting. When a group makes their presentation to the organization, they must explain what the purpose and role of the organization is.

After the presentation, there are three possibilities for the outcome.

If SGA decides to endorse the organization, the SGA president, PuLSE office director, and the dean of student life must all sign the approval section of the application.

“This means that the organization may begin functioning as an official organization and start fundraising and holding events like a true organization,” Huck-Watson said.

Sometimes SGA decides to make the decision pending, which means the organization needs to make some changes or SGA is in need of more information regarding the group.

The last possibility for the organization is disapproval. If this happens, the organization can motion to overturn the decision at SGA Assembly.

It normally takes a week or two for the whole process to be completed.

“The process depends on how many new student organizations are trying to be endorsed at the time,” said Kelsa Reynolds, SGA vice president of operations board. “The earlier in the year students start the application process, the earlier they will be able to meet and present to the executive officers.”

The process, however, seemed quite tedious according to sophomore media, rhetoric and culture major Kate Siegfried, who is a member of the new organization Help Heal Haiti.

“It took us a full semester of fairly extensive meetings to gather students who were interested in starting Help Heal Haiti, figure out how we were going to organize the organization, elect an executive board, and coordinate everything logistically to start the organization,” Siegfried said.

Siegfried also said when her group was ready to present the organization to SGA, the association wasn’t accepting any organizations at that time. This meant that the group had to wait out the summer to present their organization.

“We were all a little disappointed at first, but it gave us the summer to get even more prepared and organized for the coming school year, so it’s all worked out,” she said. “I think there were points of frustration for all of us, where starting this organization seemed like an almost unattainable goal, but every member of the executive board stayed dedicated and continued to put in the necessary work.”

In April, there is a re-recognition process that each organization must go through. In the fall, there is a required meeting for the presidents of each organization, and at the end of each semester, a report is required that explains what the group has been up to.

There are 150 student organizations on campus. If a student wants to become involved but doesn’t quite know where to start, the PuLSE office can help.

Huck-Watson said the PuLSE has a database dedicated to the student organizations, allowing them to refer back to the different organizations when a student expresses interest.

Steven Han, a sophomore pharmacy major and a founding member of the Urban Arts Crew, has advice for students interested in starting their own organization.

“Prove to the administration that your group has interest from students, will last long, and will contribute something to campus, and you are well on your way to starting your organization,” he said. “If you are passionate about it, then it will happen.”

Reynolds said this year’s student leader involvement has become very invigorating.

“Right now it is a very exciting time of the year,” said Reynolds. “We have multiple student leaders stepping up to the challenge of wanting to create a new student organization on campus.”

“These leaders have found other students on campus who have the passion and desire to not only make a difference on campus in the Butler community but also potentially making a difference around the world.”

The inauguration of Butler University’s President Jim Danko will honor the president and his wife Bethanie and welcome them to the university.

This year’s theme is “Imagine the possibilities,” which will be represented by many exhibits and events in the Butler neighborhood.

Organizers of the inauguration festivities said they expect the events to showcase the university’s relationship with the Indianapolis community.

“Me and Jim [Danko] would rather the event not be about us but about Butler in the whole community,” Bethanie said. “If we can be an excuse for that to happen, then great.”

College Exhibit

One of the first events will be an exhibit at Irwin Library from Nov. 4 to Nov. 11. The exhibit starts during Family Weekend.

The exhibit will include displays from all six of the university’s colleges, the Center for Global Education and the Center for Citizenship and Community.

Each group will have an interactive multimedia display that showcases its relationship to the community.

Darlene Waddell, who represents the College of Education on the academic affairs subcommittee, said the education display will include elements of how Butler has worked in partnership with Indianapolis Public School Lab School 60 and Shortridge Magnet High School.

“I think [the display] will draw in the community and showcase the academic side of Butler,” Waddell said. “I hope the community can see we still have dreams and that there are possibilities that we can use our imagination to reach.”

Inaugural Gala
The inauguration committee is also planning its gala at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on Nov. 12 at 6 p.m.

The event is invitation-only and 350 guests are expected to attend. Those invited include the Board of Trustees, volunteers who work on the behalf of various university committees, the alumni board, faculty members and students.

The gala will feature performances from various student performing groups, including Out of the Dawg House, Butler’s male a cappella group.

“I want [the gala] to showcase the talents of our staff and students at Butler and celebrate where we have been as a university and also the next step we want to go,” Rachael Burt, co-chair of the gala committee, said.

Student Input

The inaugural committee also allowed student input in the planning.

Student Government Association President Al Carroll and Council on Presidential Affairs Chair Mike

Tirman both serve on the committee to represent the student voice on campus.

Carroll said one way he has tried to get more student involvement in the process is by using money in the student initiative fund in SGA to pay for the regalia robes to be worn at the Installation Ceremony at Clowes Memorial Hall on Nov. 12 at 11 a.m.

A representative from each student organization on campus will wear the robes.

“[Butler Catholic Community] thought it would be good to be there for [Danko] since he and his wife sometimes come and celebrate Mass with us, and she even bakes cookies for us,” junior pharmacy major Eileen Carroll, who will be representing BCC at the ceremony, said.

Al Carroll said he hopes that students will participate in the inauguration festivities.

“The inauguration is not only about the new president but also about the university as a whole,” he said.

Spring Events

The committee is also planning to have different events on campus year-round as part of the inaugural celebration.

PuLSE Office Director Caroline Huck-Watson, the co-chair for the day of service subcommittee, said that her committee is planning to host a service event in April for students and faculty.

“It is great because we are encouraging people to think of creative ways to think about the university,” Huck-Watson said.

Huck-Watson said the committee is waiting for the inauguration week before making a final decision on what the spring service event will be.

Bethanie is also co-chair of the committee to plan the end-of-the- year event.

“[The event] is about how Butler students engage the community,” Bethanie said. “We want to figure out how to take students to new places. We definitely want [the event] to be student-focused.”

Bethanie said she wants the inauguration to allow the community to get to know Jim  Danko better.

“Part of what [Jim’s] first 100 days is about is understanding what people are saying and to begin with that,” Bethanie said.

“It is about him listening and the community to be inspired and getting to know him.”

Jim Danko said he hopes the inauguration will reinvigorate excitement around the university.

“I hope [the inauguration] energizes the community to think beyond current ways of thinking,” he said. “I want it to be a time of self-reflection and a chance to celebrate the community.”