Dear fellow K-Staters,
We hope your first week back treated you well, and that you’re getting back into the swing of things! We’ve got an exciting spring semester on tap as we round out our term as your student representatives.
When we ran for student body president and vice president, one of our primary platforms was establishing the Lifeline 911 policy on campus and as a state law. Before we left for winter break, K-State officially adopted the policy, so now minors on campus can call for help with alcohol-related complications without fear of legal consequences. Now, we’re shifting our focus to the state level. The wheels have been set in motion to make Lifeline 911 a state law.
We’ve been working with local senators and representatives and hope to introduce legislation in the next few weeks. Last week, we met with the Kansas Highway Patrol to discuss implementation of the law, and they were very helpful and supportive. We’ll continue to meet with key stakeholders to vet the bill, and we’ll spend time in Topeka to ensure the bill moves forward. Lifeline 911 will be among the topics for discussion at State Higher Ed Day on Feb. 10, when students from across the state will visit the capitol to lobby on behalf of student interests.
One of the projects we inherited from previous student body president and vice president, Eli Schooley and Jake Unruh, is the K-State app. At the end of last semester, we put out a Request for Proposal to garner interest from developers capable of building the app we need. We’ve received a handful of proposals and will begin the selection process, keeping students involved throughout. We’ve worked closely with the IT Department on this project, and they’ve been doing an excellent job with the project and with keeping students in the loop.
Finally, with student employment hours in the news lately, we want to affirm that we will do all in our power to keep students working as much as they want to. The Affordable Care Act requires businesses and institutions to provide healthcare for employees that average more than 30 hours of work per week for a period of one year. Since K-State currently restricts student employees to 30 hours per week during the fall and spring semesters, and allows 40 hours per week over breaks, this could apply to student employees. Many other schools across the country, including KU, have had to reduce hours for student employees. With the rising cost of education in mind, we want to prevent this. We are working with Dr. Bosco, Vice President of Human Capital Cheryl Johnson, and Vice President for Administration and Finance Cindy Bontrager to come up with the best possible solution for our students and our university.
Hope to see you in the Octagon of Doom tonight as K-State looks to continue their impressive Big 12 play against West Virginia. The K-State women also play at home this week, against Oklahoma State on Wednesday. Go Cats!
Have a great week,
Reagan Kays, student body president
Cody Kennedy, student body vice president
@KStateSBP_SBVP
