Undergraduate Student Government is responding to issues between the University and the city with a student board whose focus will be to make communication better between students and the community.

At last night’s USG meeting, Tom Bethany, Rogers senator, proposed an amendment that will create a City-Community Relations Board to represent students in working with the city.

According to the amendment, the board “will work on behalf of the students to improve relations with the city and the community of Bowling Green.”

Issues that the board would likely deal with include zoning laws, bike laws and off-campus recycling, according to Aaron Shumaker, USG president.

And another possible issue for the board is the dress codes at downtown Bowling Green clubs.

“Dress codes would have been a great issue for them to deal with a couple of months ago,” Shumaker said after the meeting.

But if students are still concerned about the dress codes after the creation of the board, the board could look further into the issue by collecting data on it, he said.

And Shumaker also expects that currently unknown issues will arise in the near future for the board to deal with.

The new board will have certain options in handling current and future issues.

Bethany, author of the amendment, thinks the board is set up in a way that will help further communication about the issues.

“It really should help create dialogue between the students [and the community] through the three functions,” Bethany said after the meeting.

Those functions as described in the amendment include “data gathering and research,” “conflict resolution” and “community outreach.”

But the main function will be community outreach, Bethany said.

He thinks the board will help make sure students are involved in community service.

According to the amendment, part of the outreach function of the board will be to “work to expand or better coordinate service projects in the city” and “help coordinate efforts of the student community service organizations with the community service oriented organizations in the local community.”

Bethany thinks the creation of the board is important because, through the board, dialogue on the issues will be initiated and maintained by the students and not the administration.

“It’s a student action,” Bethany said of the proposed board.

As part of helping create dialogue between students and the community, Shumaker also expects the board to meet with city officials to discuss issues.

According to Matt Seckel, Internal Affairs Committee chair and co-author of the amendment, USG will have some say over the actions of the board, although the board is meant to be “relatively autonomous” and “not exclusive to USG.”

Decisions of the board can be overturned by a two-thirds majority vote by USG, according to the amendment.

But until the amendment is voted on at the USG meeting on November 28, senators will continue to work out the details of the amendment, Shumaker said, adding that students are welcome on it.

Shumaker thinks the creation of the board will have positive effects for the student body.

“It helps students connect with the city and the community,” he said.

‘#160;