BY RAEGAN NEUFELD
The Student Government Association had a short but informative meeting on Thursday, where several of the executive staff members discussed various university meetings they attended in the last week.
Legislative Affairs Director Ella Burrows spoke about a meeting she had with Wesley Wintch and Joey Linn, the vice president of administration and finance and the vice president of student affairs. President Ryan Stanley was also in attendance. They discussed student fees for the next year and decided to implement a two percent inflationary increase.
“It’s going to be two percent over the next three years instead of six percent in three years to space that out,” Burrows said.
According to Burrows, the move is similar to what other Kansas Board of Regents schools are doing and should be approved by the Board with no problems.
“It will give the budgets for all of the entities at the university a lot more cushion for dealing with inflation,” she said.
Burrows also discussed a trip to Washington D.C. she and Treasurer David Schulte recently went on. They met with Sen. Jerry Moran, Rep. Tracey Mann and members of Sen. Roger Marshall’s staff. They discussed how the congressmen can help Fort Hays with grants, specifically for the new tech school affiliation, and additional funding for the university’s nursing program.
“(The nursing classes) are currently capped at 30 students,” Burrows explained. “So if we could expand (Stroup Hall) and have more students in those classes, they’re hoping it can combat the disparities in the workforce for nurses out here in rural Kansas.”
SGA hosted the Big Event last Saturday and another Open Forum on Wednesday. Both events were discussed at the meeting.
According to Community Relations Director Emma Day, over 200 volunteers completed 15 service projects throughout the day. She is currently working on a survey to see what participants liked and what can be improved.
“I had great feedback from the project leaders that had volunteers show up and help them out, so I think it was a good success,” she said.
Burrows also deemed the Open Forum a success. Four panelists, representing Student Engagement, Health and Wellness Services, Residential Life and the University Police Department, answered questions about their respective student services.
“I felt like we had a lot of great discussions,” she said. “I think both Res Life and UPD are going to take some of those comments back and hopefully get some resolutions.”
Full coverage of the Open Forum will be published on Tiger Media Network’s website in the near future.
In other news, a bill containing the SGA budget for next year was up for first reading and will be voted on at next week’s meeting. Burrows and Day also announced their executive staff for next year.
2023-24 SGA Executive Staff
- President – Ella Burrows
- Vice President – Emma Day
- Treasurer – Jackson Sinsel
- Legislative Affairs Director – Austin Ruff
- Public Relations Director – Aspen Patrick
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director – Joanna Carrillo-Maldonado
The next SGA meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. on May 4. The location is TBA.