Student senate is looking to bring a student-run radio station, a 24/7 study area, service grants, a Calvin mobile app and a discounted taxi service to Calvin.

These proposals are among the 30 that student senate received from their recent Proposal Week initiative.

Calvin Radio was proposed by senior Grant Austin and would be an online radio streaming service run by Calvin students through a Calvin Radio student organization.

Student senator Jerry Grieser explained, “It’s basically like an online radio streaming service but it would be music for Calvin students.”

He continued, “Calvin students will be able to request songs. If there are any upcoming concerts, it would play music from those bands. It would play music that is big at Calvin and also announcements.”

Calvin used to have a student-run radio station, WCAL.

WCAL began in 1965 and broadcasted via the campus cable system for most of its existence. Students could attach their stereos to the coaxial cables in the residence halls or just listen via their TVs.  WCAL broadcasted over 95.1 FM for a semester before shutting down in 2001.

Before shutting down, WCAL even added online streaming for several years. In 1997, the station manager excitedlyannounced that “[online streaming] will allow as many as 40 people at a time [to] listen to the station from anywhere in the world.”

The new radio initiative is intended to require less time commitment from students than the old model of multiple DJs selecting tracks in real time.

“You just make a playlist and upload it to the website and it just plays them all,” Grieser explained.

Besides Calvin radio, student senate is working on a new 24/7 study area for students.

“[The 24/7 study space] is addressing the needs of upperclassmen and those who need to study after midnight,” Grieser explained. “Underclassmen have dorm basements to study in, but they are not very conducive to good studying.”

Johnny’s is currently open until 2 a.m. on weeknights but student senate hopes to keep the area open through the night.  Additionally, senate hopes to extend the hours of the Fish House coffee shop to at least midnight.

Student senate also hopes to make Johnny’s officially open on Sunday.

“Long-term we want to do something a lot bigger but we’re looking for temporary solutions,” said student senator Hannah Biggs.

Other proposals include service grants, where students can get funding for self-designed service projects; a Calvin mobile app, with mobile versions of calvin.edu, the Hekman website and some Portal services; and a partnership between Calvin and a local taxi service to provide discounted rates for students.

The “puppy patch” initiative, however, has been postponed.

“We’re just going to try to do something with Nite-Life,” Grieser explained. “They’re [already] planning to do something.”

 “Because of the wintertime, it’d be hard,” he added.

 Student senate plans to continue with its puppy plans in the spring.