BY KATI RIVERA
The Fort Hays State University Student Government Association met over ZOOM this week due to the Majors and Graduate Programs Fair but will resume in-person meetings next week.
With no guest speaker this week, the SGA moved straight into their weekly reports beginning with President Haley Reiter.
Reiter reported that Student Advisory Council was working with the Kansas Board of Regents regarding taking school off for Election Day, Nov. 3. The KBOR said the decision is up to the individual schools and needs to be signed by the student government president to be approved. Reiter said she doesn’t plan to move forward with the decision this year, citing a tight timeframe for her decision.
“I think it’s great and I hope that future student body presidents continue to work on that during future elections, but the timeframe just wasn’t in our favor this year,” Reiter said.
Reiter and Vice President Bryson Homman both attended the Cinnamon Roll Drive-Thru Thursday morning hosted by the FHSU Foundation. The Drive-Thru was the start of the FHSU Campus Campaign, an initiative program to encourage faculty and staff to continue donations to the foundation to fund programs at FHSU.
Following Reiter’s report, Homman spoke about his meeting with Academos, the bookstore FHSU uses for its campus bookstore. The meeting covered statistics from the campus bookstore– how many students purchase from the bookstore as well as increases and decreases.
Legislative Affairs Director, Crystal Rojas, started her report by sharing the date for free counseling on campus. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, students can meet with the school-provided attorney. Sign-ups are on TigerLink.
Rojas also showed her appreciation for the campus and local organizations that put together the coverage on the Live 111th Kansas House of Representatives Debate last week. SGA is one of the many organizations on campus that strongly encourages students to vote and to utilize the resources given to educate each other.
“If you do have any questions, know that there are resources out there for you to use. If you just do have questions or concerns really about anything please reach out to any of the senators,” Rojas said.
Rojas’ report concluded with her continuing to remind and encourage everyone to take care of their mental health as the end of the semester approaches.
Isaiah Schindler and the General Education Committee met with the Physics and the Criminal Justice programs to talk about the introduction to criminal justice and elementary meteorology courses.
No new business was brought to attention so Homman moved onto old business.
Shooting sports asked SGA for funding to buy new practice targets. Lane Sorensen was the student representative during the meeting and further explained without the pre-season shoot, the team lacked funding they would have normally raised on their own. With the majority voting in Sorensen’s favor, the bill was passed.
The next bill that was brought to the table was approving Daniel Martinez to be ratified as a senator. Martinez explained his passion for leadership and being the voice of students. The majority passed this bill.
The last bill of the meeting was brought by the Black Student Union on campus. The group asked for the Thankfully Giving Dinner program to be adapted for the fiscal year. The majority voted to pass this bill.
Finishing off the meeting, senators gave their weekly announcements.
The American Democracy Project is holding a “Tigers Vote” event from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Thursday in the quad. The group will be handing out merchandise to encourage voting in the upcoming election.
Senators were reminded the Dane G. Hansen Scholarship Applications are due Monday and that Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat is this Saturday.
Next week’s meeting will be an in-person meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Memorial Union.
Disappointed to hear SGA cannot accommodate Election Day. The investment is minimal and the potential return is unlimited. It’s a day of alternative learning that can pay endless dividends.