Associated Students Senator and Director of the University Affairs Committee Igor Kagan expects to have projects like the free online book exchange, healthier food on campus and solutions for CSUN skateboarders by the end of the semester.

Kagan said the online book exchange idea came from A.S. Senator Byron Baba. The plan is to develop a Web space to exchange and post books exclusively for CSUN students.

According to Kagan, the only hitch so far has been reviewing the campus bookstore’s contract and the no competition clause. Fortunately for students, the competition rule will not apply to the proposed Web site. All that is left for a functioning site is to write the code and it should be up and running by next semester, if not the end of this semester.

The idea of having healthier food on campus came from a student who brought the issue up with A.S. The University Affairs committee has begun by scheduling meetings with health experts and volunteers from the Center for Healthy Human Development. The committee began work more than a month ago and Kagan expects there to be more healthy food choices on campus by the end of the semester.

The committee is working on a proposal to the University Corporation that will generally focus on the way food is made, not the specific food. They plan on continuing with student surveys and Kagan said the committee is “on the verge of recommendation.”

“It’s a priority to have healthy students,” Kagan said.

The other project the committee is working on is a solution for CSUN skateboarders as requested by students. The committee just began working on this but they are hoping to be able to work with A.S.R.E.C. and student skateboarders to get a skate club going. Kagan said they are in the preliminary stages of looking for potential locations on campus for skaters, but the main problem is campus liability in the event of an injury. The committee is working toward alternatives like waivers for students to sign, instead of skaters getting issued fines.

The university affairs committee also recently began looking into the increased rates for renting rooms and locations on campus. Kagan said the rates have been raised significantly in the last few years and hopes that the committee can ease the strain on student groups and organizations that rent campus rooms.