STORY BY CORIE LYNN
The FHSU Student Government Association held its weekly meeting on Thursday, September 19.
At the start of the meeting, Vice President Musgrove announced the results of the Freshman and KAMS elections which were held this week. Of the twenty-one students who ran, seven were elected to the Student Senate and will attend their first meeting the following week.
Following this announcement, Chartwells Senior Director Amila Ramanayake spoke to the senate as well as answered questions posed by both senators and students in the audience.
In a recent inspection, Chartwells, FHSU’s on-campus dining service, was found to have twelve code violations. Since then, the SGA has looked into past inspections of the dining service and asked for student testimonials of their experiences with on-campus dining.
Ramanayake attended the evening’s meeting to report how the company plans to address the issue as well as answer questions from the senators and audience members.
During his time speaking to the Senate, Ramanayake stated that he was not there to make excuses for what occurred but to let students know how the situation was being amended
According to him, the corporate staff is aware of the situation and additional training for FHSU staff is taking place. This includes checking proper food temperatures on a regular basis and other food serving basics.
“Training is a big piece of it,” Ramanyake said.
He also emphasized that the company welcomes feedback. This comes in the form of Happy or Not, which is placed at the exit of McMindes Cafeteria.
Students and guests also have the option of giving feedback through a texting system, with each Chartwells location having its own number posted.
Following the discussion of Chartwells, the executive staff gave their reports.
President DeMers stated that he had recently returned from a Kansas Board of Regents meeting in Topeka.
During this time, he and representatives of other Kansas public universities discussed the amount of funding they would ask the state government for.
This year’s total is roughly $95 million, which will be split between the different needs, such as scholarships and maintenance, of the schools.
DeMers also reported discussion from the Open Educational Resource Committee he sits on as well as picking plans for student health insurance.
In his report, Vice President Musgrove announced that Student Senate applications are now open to students wishing to represent their college.
Musgrove then reported that he is already answering questions about Spring allocations. Similarly, he let the Student Senate know that they will read a bill the following week regarding a new budget for the Fort Hays Shooting Sports Club.
In his report, Treasurer Applegate also discussed the Shooting Sports Club. According to him, the reason for the new proposal is a result of several of their meets being canceled.
Legislative Affairs Director Wisely’s report followed Applegate’s.
In it, Wisely mentioned having met with other Legislative Directors at the staff retreat she, Musgrove and DeMers attended.
She also announced that National Voter Registration Day, which is September 24, will be observed over two days this year in the hopes of allowing a larger number of students to register.
Community Relations Director Dougherty focused her report on building partnerships with other organizations.
The SGA works with the Hays Police Department, in particular. This partnership allows students to register their parties, resulting in the police department to call loud parties rather than immediately issue noise citations.
Besides this, CRD Dougherty spent her week drafting the logo for the Spring’s Big Event.
Administrative Assistant Cunningham concluded the executive reports by stating she is working to update the SGA website. This includes changing the website descriptions as well as biographies.
A number of committees gave reports during the evening.
The Appropriations Committee has two bills up for first reading, while the Legislative and Political Action Committee is looking for ways to educate students on campus gun policy.
Senator Prine of the Senate Affairs Committee restated that SGA applications are now open. Because of this, the committee has already interviewed an applicant. The committee also has one bill up for first reading.
An additional report came from the Academic Advisory Committee. Currently, how they can encourage more students to participate in advisor evaluations.
Following the committee reports, the Student Senate moved into Open Forum. During this time, President DeMers gave the senators an update on the progress of the Dead Week Policy.
This policy was written over the summer and presented to the Faculty Senate two weeks ago. Currently, it is with the Senate’s Student Affairs Committee.
DeMers presented a full timeline of its to the senators as well as elaborated on how the policy is written at the present.
The policy calls for no new assignments or tests to be given after the Wednesday before Finals Week.
Should the policy not pass the Faculty Senate in its current form, DeMers stated that the SGA is willing to compromise on different aspects of the policy, and that, at the least, a policy should be in place to clarify whether FHSU recognizes Dead Week or not.
With no other bills to discuss or announcements to be made, the Student Senate adjourned for the evening.