STORY BY DANIEL SAENZ
Students at Fort Hays are represented by the Student Government Association. The SGA represents the rights and interests of the students as they talk about these issues with the administration here at Fort Hays State University as well as the Kansas Legislature and the Kansas Board of Regents.
On Thursday, September 26, the SGA came together at their weekly meeting to discuss a wide variety of issues. The first of which was the rescheduling of the commencement that would come into effect during the spring. On May 17, no commencement will no longer be in the evening, but at 9 am. The Saturday session, however, will be at 9 am as has traditionally been the case.
On December 19th of 2019, commencement will be at 1 pm. In 2020, it will be on May 15th. President Adam Schibi explained the reasoning behind this move.
“There was a task force that was set up to look at the commencement, the dates, the logistics, and some other things like that,” Schibi said. “In past years, we used to have one Friday night and one on Saturday morning. We approached this with the perspective that its late May. Gyms can become very warm, so we’re really wanting to attack that and make it safer for everyone.
“Beyond that, we are trying to make things more efficient and run smoother. The inclusion of December was taking the viewpoint that a lot of our students will end up graduating in December and wanting to celebrate with them rather than pushing it off until May.”
Another highlight of the meeting was the ability to endorse the strategic plan framework.
“The discussions have been through with each of the groups that have been going through the endorsement phase,” said Schibi. “The endorsement is passed down through faculty senate down to both staff and student senate, so it is good to see all of these groups being considered and making sure all viewpoints going forward.”
The framework has to go through one more round of endorsement by the foundation and executive committee.
President Schibi went on to explain the significance of this framework.
“It lays out the mission statement of the university that had gone through many rounds of revisions and trying to see who we are as an institution,” said Schibi. “Then it states our vision statement, which also went through roughly the same number of groups that we were able to condense down into what we see as our goal, or what we are really achieving, or what we want to hit in the next few years.
“Then, beyond that, it is looking at our values as an institution. What do we put at the forefront, trying to attract not only students, but also faculty members, instructors, and really everybody that makes Fort Hays who it is? And most importantly, our goals. What do we want to continue and what do we want to work beyond. Beyond that, they are going to move into a little bit more of adjustments to the goals, looking at strategies to reach those goals, and making it a living document that will provide us with an idea of where everything is at. It is a really cool process.”
Apart from a few housekeeping procedures, these issues were at the forefront of the meeting. SGA meets again tomorrow night at 7 p.m.