Future of Daytona: Significant Changes Being Made 

As the current Dayton to Daytona Trip Coordinators, we are contacting you in hopes of gaining your support in saving our beloved tradition. We hope that this email may serve as a starting point for you to gather your thoughts and learn about the changes this university is attempting to make. After reading this, we invite you to send us your thoughts, comments or concerns to either daytona@notes.udayton.edu or sga@notes.udayton.edu.  

Over the past 2 years(2007-2009) the Trip Coordinators have worked to acknowledge the concerns of the administration at the university. Several enhancements to the trip have been created, including safety initiatives, a day of service and more pooldeck/alternative activities. Last year several members of the university administration came down to Daytona and witnessed first hand the amazing efforts of the Dayton to Daytona Committee. We believed this would lead to a new relationship where the trip coordinators could continue on making the trip safer, and more enjoyable for all students. 

That being said, several changes have occurred over the past few months. These changes include the hiring of a new SGA advisor, Sarah Schoper from the University of Maryland, a president and vice president of SGA that ran unopposed, and finally an overhaul of the Student Governments governing documents. This last change is our main concern, please read below. 

 For the past couple of months our constitution has been under review by Butch Oxendine, Executive Director of the American Student Government Association. The results of this review caused the Speaker of the Senate to create a Constitutional Review Committee to examine the current constitution line by line, and as such, make recommendations to the body about changes. While all SGA members were allowed to be present at these committee meetings, only the six selected members could vote on the line-item initiatives. The proposed document, which can be found at SGA Website reflects the ideal SGA as defined by a very small number of SGA officials, including the President, Vice President & Speaker. It is clear that they are the driving force behind this and that they imagine an SGA modeled off of the US Government, which is, obviously, a completely different animal. 

 Please recognize exactly how much power this proposed constitution gives to the senate and note the changes in organizational structure including the elimination of the Executive Committee, elimination of VP of Finance, elimination of residential & academic senators.Without the Executive Committee, several interests around campus lose their representation. Not only will this new constitution explicitly affect the student's ability to support service, safety & diversity initiatives but it also will affect the existence of the D2D trip. 

 We are writing you to mobilize a core group of alumni to help support us in "saving" Daytona, and more importantly, saving the SGA we all came to know and love. While we would like to say that we have support of the current SGA leadership, it is evident that executive support is non-existent. In fact, SGA President John Jewell and Speaker Jeff Schumacher have been meeting with Chris Schramm (AVP of Student Development) to determine where "D2D fits within the other structures at the university." It is clear that the administration will make changes to the trip, and from a letter written by Chris Schramm, "it is obvious that if the university is to recognize it as a student organization, changes will need to be made, but until such word is given by SGA, I will be waiting and discussions can begin." 

We hope you can recognize just how concerning this is to us as Trip Coordinators and to the student body in general. We are well aware that the administration would gladly get rid of Dayton to Daytona as a whole because of the "great liability they assume by being connected to the trip." We recognize that placing Daytona in the administration's hands would be a significant overhaul of the trip, and that there is an increased chance of Breakaway Tours moving the trip "underground". 

The Dayton to Daytona trip must remain under the umbrella of the SGA to ensure the maximum amount of safety and entertainment for students. If this proposed constitution passes on Senate floor this Sunday, the document will be presented to the student body for a vote. We ask that you help spread the word about these potential changes and that you motivate alumni to respectfully take a stand. Please join our facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=347375845357.

 We thank you for your support. 

 Sincerely, 

Margaret Schnering & Caitlin DeGarmo

Trip Coordinators|Dayton to Daytona 2010

Trip Coordinators and the Dayton to Daytona 2010 Committee