Student senators concerned about snow on campus

By RAEGAN NEUFELD

Tiger Media Network

The amount of snow left on campus from the latest winter storm has proved to be a cause for concern and disappointment for students.

The topic was discussed at the first Student Government Association meeting of the semester on Thursday. During the open forum section of the meeting, Sen. Noah Erichsen voiced his feelings on the matter, specifically with how the parking spaces, streets and sidewalks were cared for.

“At Wooster, Agnew and Heather, all of those spots were not cleaned,” he said. “And I don’t really know why that happened.”

While Erichsen expressed an understanding that no work was done on Monday because it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he was still disappointed.

“I know we didn’t cancel class and that’s fine, but when I woke up on Tuesday, my sidewalk wasn’t done and when I was walking to class those sidewalks weren’t done,” he said. “I was just concerned about why Fort Hays had class and didn’t clean any of the roads and sidewalks.” 

Others noted the poor condition of the Tiger Village parking lot and the nearby parking spaces along Elm St. President Ella Burrows said she will email the university grounds department to see if anything can be done with the remaining snow and if a plan can be made for the future.

According to Sen. Mickey Mason, constituents have voiced their disappointment with the situation to him, and he said their concerns are important to share with the grounds department.

Aside from concerns about the snow, most of the meeting consisted of reports from the executive staff members. One of their current focuses is to advertise the remaining open senate seats.

Some of the executive staff members will be tabling in the Memorial Union next week to do this, and they are also encouraging senators to bring a friend to next week’s meeting.

“They’ll sit in the back, see what senate is and maybe they’ll join and be a senator,” Vice President Emma Day said.

In other news:

  • The talking points for Higher Education Day on Feb. 14 were determined by Burrows and the other Kansas Board of Regents school student body presidents. They include funding for open educational resources, additional need-based aid and deferred maintenance for campus buildings.
  • Burrows will address the idea of ‘food for fines’ at the next Traffic Committee meeting in March, a program at Wichita State University where students can bring in canned food items to pay off parking tickets.
  • Proposals for the university’s food service vendor will take place during the last week of January to determine if a new provider will be used or if it will continue to be the Union Catering Company. Treasurer Jackson Sinsel will be attending the proposals.

The next SGA meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 25 in the Black and Gold Room.

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