By RAEGAN NEUFELD
Tiger Media Network
Campus safety has been the topic of several discussions at previous Student Government Association meetings this year and was again one of the focuses at the meeting on Thursday morning.
According to SGA President Ella Burrows, campus safety has been a main concern for herself, University President Tisa Mason, Faculty Senate President Elodie Jones and Staff Senate President Nicole Frank. The four meet every other week to share their work and priorities. At their meeting on Monday, Jones discussed the possibility of installing locks on classroom doors currently without any.
“Especially in Rarick,” Burrows said. “Right now, none of those doors lock once you’re in there, so in the event of an emergency or a lockdown situation, it’s not a very safe place.”
The University Police Department and several other groups on campus are working on the lock situation. UPD is also researching different security camera options to install in campus parking lots.
SGA will be doing their part for campus safety next month when they do their annual safety walk. Along with UPD Chief Terry Pierce, senators and executive staff members will be evaluating campus safety measures, such as the streetlights and call boxes, to ensure that everything works properly.
Pierce will be a part of the panel at the SGA open forum on Nov. 1.
In addition to safety measures, Burrows is addressing the needs of students by working to provide free period products in bathrooms on campus. A survey was sent to students on Monday via email, asking if they would be willing to pay $3 in fee money to pay for the products. According to Burrows, 830 students have responded to the survey so far.
“We’ve decided the best way forward is to purchase dispensers for the 12 bathrooms that don’t have any, and then transition the existing dispensers to free dispensers,” she said.
With this update, the estimated initial cost to provide free period products on campus is $5,000.
Senators also heard from Brett Meyer, interim director of Student Engagement, about the services they provide.
“We want the experience for Fort Hays students to be the best there is,” he said. “If that’s bringing a well-known band to campus, then that’s something we want to do. Or just bringing in better opportunities for students to have fun, because we know that studying and school can get kind of tough.”
Meyer encouraged senators to track the events they go to and host on TigerLink.
“It’s a great platform for all of us to use to see what we’re doing on campus,” he said. “It’s great for clubs and organizations when they come to you for allocations, they have numbers on what they’re doing.”
Clubs and organizations can go to the Student Engagement office on the second floor of the Fischli-Wills Center for Student Success to learn more about registering an event on TigerLink.
In addition to regular business, an installation of new members occurred for the six recently elected freshmen senators.
- Anthony Arial
- Cade Becker
- Clayton Cain
- Lorenzo Gomez
- Elle Hutchinson
- Mario Ortiz
The next SGA meeting will be at 7 p.m. next Thursday in the Black and Gold Room.