In their final meeting of the semester, the Student Governing Association heard from a speaker on the lack of equality for left-handed students on campus. Other topics discussed during the meeting, held in the Big 12 Room of the K-State Student Union, were a pilot program for a charging station around campus, the basketball points system and a number of bills allocating funds.
Azsha Thompson, junior in finance, discussed simple accommodations not currently being made on campus for left-handed students such as the lack of left-handed desks available in campus classrooms. She added that 15 percent of the nation is left-handed.
“The problem is there are no statistics about left-handed students at K-State,” Thompson said. “Without knowing statistics we are blinded by the issue.”
Thompson presented the solution of putting a question about dominant hands on enrollment forms. The information will then be given to teachers on their rosters. Teachers will in turn be able to get an appropriate number of left-handed desks in each classroom.
Another solution already present in some classrooms is the use of long tables instead of desks. These ambidextrous options are most prominent in the Leadership Studies building which was designed with the goal of the inclusion of all in its mission statement.
Thompson hopes that the SGA can assist her in petitioning admissions for the addition of a dominant hand question on enrollment forms.
Grant Hill, student body vice president and senior in accounting, informed the student senators about a pilot program to start next semester in which a phone charging station will move to various hot spots around campus. Cords will be provided, and if the program is successful it will expand to multiple permanent charging stations instead of one mobile one.
Student body president Nate Spriggs, senior in architectural economics, then explained problems with the existing basketball points program. Currently when students attend a game they scan their card and receive a point that goes toward the seats they will get for the game against KU. Students with the most points get the best seats because of loyalty throughout the season.
The problem with the current program is that students are scanning their cards and then leaving the game, Spriggs said. It has been suggested that students should have to scan their cards again on the way out, but nothing has been decided yet.
“It is only 45 or 50 students each game [that leave early],” Spriggs said. “I’d hate to inconvenience students doing it right by making them scan their cards again.”
The final action of the night was voting on various bills allocating funds. These included funds for a speaker who was involved in sex trafficking during her time at K-State, the financing of a trip to the Kansas National Resource Conference and bringing in an improv group for the university’s 150th anniversary. All of the bills voted on were passed.
SGA will meet next on Jan. 31, 2013 in the Big 12 Room of the Union at 7 p.m.
