For the third consecutive semester, student leaders discussed possible improvements to HoyaLink at the Student Group Union semi-annual summit Sunday.

SGU aims to provide a network for student groups to discuss common issues through events such as these summits.

For most of the summit, approximately 20 campus leaders brainstormed ways to enhance the university-sponsored online platform, which elicits frustration for some.

Student leaders discussed adding functions to HoyaLink, including online financing, rich text formatting and scheduling capability through Doodle, an online scheduling tool.

International Relations Club Chair Jeff Caso (SFS ’15) expressed concern about over-reliance on the university-sponsored web platform.

“I don’t think we should migrate every club function over there. It marginalizes non-recognized student groups,” Caso said. “It could potentially lead to disaster if there were to be a mainframe failure.”

SGU Executive Committee Chair Aman Shahi (COL ’13) agreed and said that the effectiveness of some HoyaLink features leaves something to be desired for a tech-savvy generation of students.

“The administration sometimes will be very excited about something that they’re providing in terms of resources for student groups, and it’s great that they’re trying to do that, but a lot of times the fact that they’re coming from a different generation is clear,” Shahi said.

Though HoyaLink dominated the discussion, student group financing was also a prominent topic, with leaders agreeing that clubs need easier access to their financial statements. Most agreed that financial statements should be updated in real-time for groups to view online, a feature that could possibly be integrated into HoyaLink.

Caso said that he hopes SGU will focus more on student group finances in the future.

“My primary issue that I’d like to see the SGU focus on is how to make financing easier, and I think that is not necessarily a HoyaLink answer,” Caso said. “I think HoyaLink can be considered as a possible … solution, but I personally am not entirely in favor of switching everything over to HoyaLink.”

Japan Network Students of Color Alliance representative Weston Takata (SFS ’15) said he appreciated the opportunity to brainstorm and problem-solve with different organizations.

“I think we hit on most of the important points, about the user-friendliness, the ability of the clubs to possibly customize their pages and maybe cut down on some of the excess material that’s onHoyaLink,” Takata said. “It’s always nice to try and collaborate with other groups not necessarily related to you.”

IRC Secretary General Jennifer Zink (SFS ’15) agreed and said that it was helpful to collaborate on ways to improve HoyaLink.

“I thought it was really helpful,” Zink said. “It was really cool to get the perspectives of leaders from other student groups because we tend to all have the same issues with HoyaLink and have a similar vision for how we see it going forward.”

Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15), College Democrats president and SGU executive committee political representative Sunday’s summit was more productive than SGU’s December meeting.

“I liked how this one was more focused, and I thought we were able to get a lot more substantive ideas on the table,” Tezel said. “I think that comes with each new summit — the organization, which is relatively new, gains a greater focus.”