When asked what midterm grade his administration deserves, Banks hedged.

"I'm going to go with AB/B," he said.,”As students received their midterm grades this past week, Marquette Student Government President Brock Banks headed into the second quarter of his term.

When asked what midterm grade his administration deserves, Banks hedged.

"I'm going to go with AB/B," he said. "I think there's always room for improvement. At the same time I think we've had a pretty good run so far."

Banks, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, pointed to the implementation of the Pick-A-Prof Web site—which allows students to rate professors and buy and sell textbooks—campus programming and improved communication as achievements of his administration. Other parts of Banks' platform, including a forum on the Reserve Fund and a sophomore inter-living program, are still on the docket.

MUSG signed Marquette onto Pick-A-Prof over the summer as a replacement to the disabled DogEars.com, another professor-reviewing Web site. A month into the school year, more than 1,200 students were signed up for the program, Banks said.

"(Students) are going to have information about their classes before they register," he said. "They're going to be able to purchase textbooks for a cheaper price than what they might be able to find at BookMarq or Sweeney's."

Banks also pointed to events such as the Fr. Wild Forum and the planned Reel Big Fish concert as successes of MUSG's program board. He also said there have been improvements in advertising led by Vice President of Communication Jillian Mertz, including improved program advertising and the reconstruction of the MUSG Web site, which is currently underway.

A challenge the administration still faces is putting the Reserve Fund, currently sitting at about $190,000, to good use.

During his campaign last spring, Banks called for a forum for students to present ideas on how to spend the fund. While there are currently no plans for such a forum, Banks said students should go to their senators with ideas they might have.

"It doesn't really mater what ideas Sara and I come up with," he said. "It's up to the Senate."

Another component of the Banks/Soriano platform was to create a sophomore inter-living program. Similar to that of CommUNITY for Marquette freshmen.

Executive Vice President Sara Soriano, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, is sitting on the Learning and Living task group, a panel that plans to study the plausibility of such a program.

Soriano said the group will have its first meeting this month.

On the legislative front, one MUSG recommendation seems to have born fruit. After passing a recommendation opposing route cuts to the Milwaukee Country Transit System earlier this month, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors recommended restoring several of the routes, including route 31—the only direct line for Marquette's campus to Mayfair Mall. MUSG had sent their recommendation to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and the Board of Supervisors.

"We recognized the problem and were able to get the students' voices heard," said Legislative Vice President Jason Rae, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Rae also headed the creating of an ad-hoc committee with the purpose of re-examining the Student Organization Allocation process. SOAs are funds from the Student Activity Fee given to student organizations and club sports teams.

Banks said dealing with SOAs is one of the biggest challenges of his administration.

"We have limited resources," he said. "We want to fund as many student programs and event as we can, but we're working with a limited budget."

“