By RAEGAN NEUFELD
Tiger Media Network
Senators received updates on several student issues from executive staff members at the Student Government Association meeting on Thursday.
President Ella Burrows’ initiative to provide free period products in the bathrooms of academic buildings will potentially see action next week when she hopes to purchase the products and 12 new dispensers. Burrows’ goal is to have the new dispensers installed, existing dispensers transitioned to free dispensers and the products available by the end of the semester. The total cost of $4,800 will be funded by the SGA student fee account. Excess funds from previous years may also be used.
“We have a substantial amount of funding left over from when we moved from the basement of the Union to Fischli-Wills,” Burrows said. “We initially thought that we had to buy a ton of furniture for the office and we ended up not having to do so. I’m working with (Vice President for Administration and Finance) Wesley Wintch to see if we’re able to use those funds.”
After the initial implementation, Burrows estimates the cost to restock products will be $500 to $1,000.
“I have to wait and see how much of that supply we’ll run through in a year to see how much we need to purchase,” she said. “I’m also hoping to get additional funding through grants, but we won’t know how much we’ll get from that until the end of the year.”
Following last week’s discussion on accessibility issues with automatic doors on campus, Vice President Emma Day reported that the issue has been reported to several different people.
“Wesley Wintch is emailing building managers and they’re going to be doing routine checks on all the buildings,” she said. “Residential Life is already doing this for their buildings, and if there’s any other issues regarding the handicap doors, we are to report them to Will Burns, who’s the accessibility services advisor.”
In addition to the updates, senators also heard about a concern with maintenance employees and TigerTech employees entering dorm rooms without knocking or giving notice. Maintenance visits can be needed for anything from changing a light bulb to plumbing issues, TigerTech employees have had to be in some of the dorms this year to rewire internet routers.
According to Burrows, when an employee has to enter a student’s room, the protocol is to knock, wait 15 seconds, knock again and wait five seconds. If the student is asleep, employees are supposed to close the door and knock harder.
“We’re hoping we can re-up that training and make sure everyone is aware of the policy,” Burrows said.
Several upcoming events were also discussed at the meeting:
- Trunk or Treat – Halftime of the FHSU football game on Oct. 28.
- Open Forum – 5 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Panelists will include Provost Jill Arensdorf, Vice President for Student Affair Joey Linn, Assistant Director of Residential Life Nathan Dozier and Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs David Bollig.
SGA will meet again at 7 p.m. on Oct. 19 in the Black and Gold Room