By ABIGAIL SHEARER
Tiger Media Network
At Thursday night’s Student Government Association meeting, Athletic fees continued to be discussed — even after election results were tallied.
The Athletic Department at Fort Hays State University was proposed a $1.66 increase per credit hour in the 2026-27 school year. The vote passed in the March 26 SGA meeting despite some contention.
Since the proposed increase was more than $1, SGA bylaws make the increase only possible with a majority of the student body vote. That vote took place during the election cycle Wednesday and Thursday — an online vote.
The proposed increase of $1.66 passed by a vote of 496-440. That pushes the Athletic fee to $13.87 next school year, which will generate approximately $1.4 million from student fees for the Athletic Department in 2026-27.
For each student taking 30 credit hours per school year next year, they will pay $416.10 you support the Athletics student fee. This year, students are paying $366.30 for those 30 hours. It amounts to a 13.6% increase.
In open forum, Sen. Daniel Bechle talked about the misinformation spread to the Athletic students about the fee.
Bechle expressed concern that athletes felt voting “yes” on the Athletic Fee ballot was required.
“People saying their coaches said, ‘Well, now it’s time to vote,’ “ Bechle said.
“I also want to meet with all of our fee-requesting entities so that they have a clear understanding of what the fee process is,” said Grace McCord, legislative affairs director for SGA.
Sen. Cade Becker said some student-athletes were concerned the money is being geared toward male sports.
“The bill was more affecting the male sports than the female sports,” he said. “They thought it wasn’t fair.
“They also were saying that there’s rumors saying that their coaches have been telling people to vote for that bill, which isn’t fair.”
Sen. Olivia Pince noted social media could have played a factor in misinformation. She said the best way to counter that is to report it as such.
“My athletic friend said, ‘The coach told us that it’ll just move around money,’ and, like, that’s kinda scary,” Bechle said.
McCord encouraged anyone who is comfortable sharing information to email her proof of the allegations.
Election results
Tallies of votes for SGA senators for next year:
Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship (5 seats)
506 Kyleigh Woodward
473 Nina Malliton
464 Danika Szopinski
2 Write-in Winners:
44 Benjamin Winters
8 Brooke Starns
Werth College of Science, Technology and Mathematics (6 seats)
510 Brynn Kinderknecht
449 Anna Briggs
424 Luke J Bower
410 Elyssa Rucker
401 Addyson Schwindt
1 Write in Winners:
15 Andrew Saville
College of Health and Behavioral Sciences (9 seats)
480 Corbyn Marquess
416 Ella Bain
424 Emma Schneider
410 Benjamin Wilkerson
395 Jillian Reimer
377 Reaghan Wamser
3 Write in Winners:
32 Landon Sobota
22 Kaydawn Haag
13 Ernesto Duenez
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (3 seats)
442 Caleb Camp
384 Kameryn Wittman
375 Veronica Janae Montoya
370 Lucina Parsons (Will be moved to At Large)
College of Education (2 seats)
676 Jocelyn Billings
645 Dawson Conyers
International seat
6 Marcell Dely
Graduate seat
904 Star Parham
President and vice president
423 Marcell Dely and Justus Nelson (45.98%)
346 Caden Becker and Olivia Pince (37.61%)
145 Cade Becker and Anthony Arial (15.76%)
Runoff elections for president and vice president will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 9.
Senators hear from Admissions
Jon Armstrong, director of admissions, gave the senators updates.
Armstrong said they are optimistic the incoming freshmen class will be the largest in the history of Fort Hays State University.
He discussed opportunities for students, both for undergraduates as student ambassadors and graduates as admissions staff.
Old business
Six new bills were up for second reading. All passed.
- Bill No.26.S.139 proposed that Saige Kirchhoff be funded $1,000 for an academic trip.
- Bill No.26.S.140 requests a Graduate Association of Students in Psychology (GASP) line item change that moved $750.
- Bill No.26.S.141 proposes Ernestina Osei be funded $500 for an academic trip.
- Bill No.26.S.142 L3 Live Learn Lead Learning Community, be funded $1,000 for an academic trip.
- Bill No.26.S.143 proposed the Criminal Justice Club line item change of $158.16 from the line item Region 3 Conference ACJA Hotel, $94.59 from the line item Region 3 Conference ACJA Mileage, and $215.21 from the line item National Conference of ACJA Registration, to move $476.96 to the line item National Conference of ACJA Hotel.
- Bill No.26.S.144 proposed an AGR line item change that moves $1,954. These bills will be up for a vote next week.
Announcements
- Sign-up projects for the Big Event are live and available here.
- Earth Day event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 21 on the south patio outside Starbucks
- Voices for Consent Collab event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 21 on the Quad. Free ice cream is available.
SGA will reconvene at 7 a.m. Thursday.