The last meeting of the Student Governing Association ran late as senators considered last minute pieces of legislation, multiple funds, statute changes and cash advancements for the K-State Student Union renovation.
Senators voted to only allow fee and surcharge recommendations from the Tuition and Fees Strategies Committee to apply to the coming year. This was done in response to the College of Business, Human Ecology and Engineering’s fee requests to make fee proposals that would last multiple years.
“We think it should be hard to get a fee,” Student Body President Reagan Kays, senior in agribusiness, said. “This change allows colleges and students to say whether or not they need the fee.”
Senator Jordan DeLoach, junior in computer science, attempted to amend the statute change to allow the current committee to give provisional, nonbinding recommendations to the committees that succeed them.
“I feel that we need to be able to see these decisions more than one year out,” DeLoach said.
The amendment was heavily debated by senators and ultimately failed. The original changes to the statutes were approved.
SGA also created the Green Action Fund committee, which will fund student projects that work toward sustainability. The committee will receive proposals for projects to fund on the first Friday of December and the last Friday of March.
Changes were made to the statutes about the process of requesting funds to better utilize the events coordinator and change the amount of time to apply for funding. Senators debated whether or not organizations should be required to have a meeting with the events coordinator, but it was decided that organizations should be required to.
The Student Affairs Committee and Communications Committee were combined into the Student Engagement Committee. The committee will no longer be headed by the Speaker Pro Tempore and only have one member of the executive branch will have voting rights within the committee.
Senators voted to pull $30,000 from the Reserve for Contingences account to fund academic competition teams. Those funds, in addition to the original funds, were used to fund 14 student organizations.
Senators approved an increase in funding for Lafene Health Center. Lafene will receive a 3 percent interest next year, 3 percent the year after and 2 percent in three years.
In new legislation, senators approved allocating $912,000 to complete the replacement of the windows on the K-State Student Union. The funds would be a loan from the central administration and would be paid back throughout 2017-19. They also approved a cash advancement to pay off an $80,000 loan to Sodexo to terminate its contract with the K-State Student Union.The results from the general election were approved, making them official. The new senate will begin its term on April 9. Statute changes were made to the Student Centered Tuition Enhancement Committee to make it simpler to wean organizations off of tuition enhancement funding and move them onto the general administration budget.
Senators approved a resolution supporting the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, which would eliminate a distinction in existing tax law that would result in allowing tax-exempt charitable and educational organizations to make grants to non-university owned not-for-profit student housing entities that provide collegiate student housing.
The Agricultural Communications and Education Graduate Student Association received $900 to attend the 2015 Association for Communication Excellence Conference. Funding was also given to the Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Club for industry funds to a total of $1000. Block and Bridle received $900 to visit a feed yard and an ethanol plant and other agricultural facilities. The Family and Consumer Sciences Interest Group received $300 to attend American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences National Conference.
The Meat Science Association was given $970 to host its second annual Barbecue Contest and Food Safety Workshop during Open House. Alpha Omega Epsilon, an engineering sorority, received $500 to attend its National Convention.
In minor allocations, funds were given to Active Minds, $280; Arnold Air Society, $200; Block and Bridle, $100; Economics Club, $350; Swing and Salsa Club, $500; and History Graduate Student Organization, $245.
Commendations were given to Attorney General Gerald Mashange, senior in finance; the student body president’s cabinet, including Kays and Vice President Cody Kennedy, senior in education; Speaker of the Senate Abby Works, senior in chemistry; Speaker Pro Tempore Kurt Lockwood, senior in agricultural economics; the standing committee chairs; student senate officers and elections commissioner, as well as the student senate and senate interns as a whole.
