St. Thomas Director of Veteran Services Norman Ferguson and Director of Ticket Operations Jim Buffo attended the Undergraduate Student Government meeting Thursday to share veteran resources and discuss ticketed events.
Veteran Resources at St. Thomas aims to support all students, military-connected or not, Ferguson said, and is consistently working on improving to make this known to all.
“We’re changing our name after July 1 to the St. Thomas Veterans and Military-Connected Students Services,” Ferguson said. “Why? Because the term, ‘veteran’ can be exclusionary.”
The resources available to students will vary depending on one’s military status, but with the center’s name change, Ferguson is aiming to increase awareness for all.
“I’ve never turned away a student who was military connected or not military connected,” Ferguson said. “Can anybody come see me? Absolutely.”
Veteran Resources’ number one goal is to serve the student body, Ferguson said.
St. Thomas Director of Ticket Operations, Jim Buffo, also attended the Undergraduate Student Government meeting to discuss the process for ticketed sports games at St. Thomas.
One decision the Ticket Office is considering is how to distribute student tickets. Currently, students must reserve tickets for ticketed sports events online, but the office is considering making some tickets first-come, first-serve.
“One thing we did this year, and we did for the last year, which I think we might go back to, is we opened up every single game at the beginning of the year for people to be able to go and claim,” Buffo said.
Members of the Undergraduate Student Government suggested a hybrid system where half of the tickets could be reserved and the other half are first-come, first-serve.
The Ticket Office appreciates feedback and will continue to communicate its updated ticketing process through emails, Buffo said.
“We are providing fun for, not only the students, but also Tommie fans out there and those in the community,” Buffo said.
Cecilia Wallace can be reached at wall1238@stthomas.edu.
