Brock Tessman

By ALEXANDRIA

BOURNONVILLE

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University President Brock Tessman hosted an event on campus to speak to commuter and nontraditional students about their needs.

The event was held in tandem with the university’s announcement of the new Commuter and Nontraditional Student Organization, led by co-presidents Carolyn Eagle and Dana Hinckley. The organization is designed to help students who live off-campus stay connected.

“Though it may not seem (like it), commuters make up about 50% of the population of students and even though that’s the case, opportunities for these students tend to be lacking,” Eagle said. “There’s a lack of opportunity for things like Homecoming, or even just talking to people and making connections. Our whole organization’s goal is to bring everyone in … and make a community of everyone.”

Associate vice president of the executive council Jeff Korpi was on hand to answer questions along with Academic & Career Advisement Center Assistant Director Nicole Shoup.

“There’s a disjuncture … over half of our students either did live in residence halls and are now commuting to campus, they live off-campus, or they never lived in the residence halls …. That’s a reality,” Tessman said. “Universities are designed after a model that’s from a bygone era … and (are) designed for that first-year student living in the residence halls … and we had this gap between what our students need and are interested in and what we have in place. We want to bridge the gap. We could try ourselves, but we want to understand how to do it. We got to talk to the students and learn from them.”

All five hosts talked with students individually as well as in small groups to get a better understanding of what would improve a communter’s experience.

At the end of the event, Tessman said he received feedback on parking, availability of resources on campus and commuters struggling to be comfortable on campus between classes.

He used an example of a problem that many commuters face daily: Having two classes separated by a long span of time — perhaps even up to six hours — with no dorm to go back to in the downtime.

Tessman suggested their “home on campus” be the first floor of Harden Hall, where the event took place.

More information about the new commuter organization is available on the NMU Hub under “Commuter and Non-traditional Student Organization” or at https://thehub.nmu.edu/feeds?type=club&type_id=73857&tab=about.

Alexandria Bournonville can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 506. Her email address is abournonville@miningjournal.net.