Dear fellow K-Staters,
Welcome back to campus for the start of another great semester at K-State! We hope you all had a great winter break and enjoyed the opportunity to relax and spend time with friends and family. We’re proud to represent such an outstanding student body, and we’re excited for the remaining four months of our term.
The renovation of our K-State Student Union is moving right along – Workshop Architects will be in town this week to unveil the schematic design for the project. This is the first of several drawings of what the Union will look like after the $25 million project is completed. All students are invited to come and see the plans this Thursday from 3-5:30 p.m. in the Flint Hills Room of the Union. Workshop will also be in attendance at the Winter Activities Carnival on Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the Union to speak with students about the project. We’d love to see you at one of these events!
Last Thursday, Gov. Sam Brownback delivered his annual State of the State Address to a joint session of the Kansas Senate and House of Representatives. In the address, Brownback discussed his plans for the state budget, which will be presented to the Legislature in the coming weeks. As students, the budget the state passes will affect our daily lives. Our tuition rates are significantly influenced by the amount of funding K-State receives from the state. Your SGA has already begun discussions about next year’s tuition, and we have our ear to the ground in Topeka to stay up to date on budget developments so we can make the best decisions possible for our students. Some of the things we learned in the address include the following:
- There will be no cuts to K-State’s state funding in Fiscal Years 2015, 2016 and 2017.
- There will be no targeted enhancements for K-State in Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017.
- Funding for the College of Veterinary Medicine ($5 million per year), the Global Food Systems initiatives ($5 million per year), research initiatives related to NBAF ($5 million per year) and the University Engineering Initiative Act ($3.5 million) will be continued in Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017.
Finally, we’d like to remind you to download LiveSafe, a free safety app for students, faculty and staff at K-State. We’re a family at this university, but we still need to be proactive to ensure our campus is a safe place to live, work and study.
Best of luck with the new semester. Enjoy your classes, get off to a strong start and tune in tonight at 6 p.m. to watch the Cats take on the No. 9 Iowa State Cyclones on the hardwood in Ames!
Sincerely,
Reagan Kays
Student body president
rkays@ksu.edu
Cody Kennedy
Student body vice president
ckennedy@ksu.edu
@KStateSBP_SBVP
