SGA meeting hears from Black Student Union, discusses upcoming allocations

FHSU’s Student Government Association met last week in the Peter Werth Black and Gold Room of the Memorial Union. 

Vice President Ryan Stanley called the meeting to order and presented the minutes from the last meeting, which were approved. He then introduced the guest speaker, Danzel Major, president of the Black Student Union.

Major explained the goal of BSU to promote and foster education and success for black students at FHSU. He shared that through community outreach throughout the fall semester, BSU was able to feed 50 struggling families in the Hays area. 

“Community is an important part of the black experience.” Major said, “We want to share that with the people of Hays.” 

He also stressed the importance of teaching the community about black history and leading the community by example. Major also stressed that BSU is an empowerment group, not a protest group as often portrayed. He reiterated the importance of being informed on black history.

“Our history is very rich in what we’ve done for America. Black history is American history, but American history isn’t black history,” Major said.

Following Major, President Mark Faber started the executive reports by giving an account of his activities throughout the week. He continued to work on the Educational Opportunity Fund and met with the Student Advisory Committee about the potential of making Election Day a university holiday. Faber also reached out to other regent schools’ student body presidents to discuss different student senate-seat allocations.

Stanley also studied other universities’ senates in order to gain some insight into ways to better the FHSU Senate. He also received statistics on the usage of the SafeApp, which showed a sharp drop-off after August. Stanley encouraged the senators to remind their constituents of the benefits and safety the app provides. He also put together the bills and agenda for the week’s meeting.

Treasurer David Schulte spent the week preparing for allocations. Submissions were due by February 11th at 4:30 p.m. Schulte also encouraged students to sign up for allocations workshops and ask questions to better understand the allocations process.

Community Relations Director Chloe Stanley designed a graphic for Admissions and prepared a social media post honoring Black History Month. 

Administrative Assistant Jayden Siebert met with the Admissions team to prepare a presentation for prospective students.

Starting off committee reports was the Appropriations Committee, which presented one bill for first reading and three for second reading. The Community Action Committee had one bill up for first reading. The Senate Affairs Committee met with three individuals who were interested in becoming senators. 

The Allocations Committee was preparing for allocations that started this week. The TILT Committee brainstormed ideas for a student survey about teaching methods. Stanley met with NCK Tech students about acquiring some parking passes. 

In the new business, five bills were up for first reading. There was an appropriations request and the Political Action Committee presented a resolution in support of Black History month and to encourage students to learn more about black history. Three of the bills were from the Senate Affairs Committee presenting nominees for senator positions. These included Christopher Crossford, Noah Erichsen, and Austin Ruff. 

Old business consisted of eight bills. These were two line item changes, an equipment request, a trip request, and an EOF distribution-of-funds request. The Senate Affairs Committee had nominated Hayden Rider for the position of senator. She was questioned as to why she would like to be a senator.

“I am passionate about representing my constituents and working hard for them,” she said. 

The Senate voted unanimously to confirm her. An Associate Student Justice candidate was presented, but in light of the fact they had failed to be present at both the current and previous meeting, the Senate voted to reject their nomination for fear of a commitment issue. Chief Justice nominee, Emily Maldanado, was confirmed unanimously and expressed her excitement at the opportunity to serve her fellow FHSU students. 

Senator Burrows announced that the American Democracy Project is seeking to hire a new director. It was also announced that Big Brothers Big Sisters is looking for applicants, as they have more than 100 children in need of a “Big.” 

The meeting was then adjourned. The Student Government Association will reconvene in the Ballroom of the Memorial Union at 7:00 p.m. tonight.  

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