Senators met Thursday to discuss gun control on campus, unused funding and to appoint new members.
Legislation was introduced concerning the recent conceal and carry law that was passed by state legislation, which permits citizens to take a concealed firearm anywhere. Locations can apply to be exempt from this rule if they prove that they have adequate security. K-State applied for an exemption to remain a gun-free zone. One of the requirements is having security guards posted at each building entrance and the implementation of metal detectors.
According Michael Reichenberger, graduate in nuclear engineering, his discussions with K-State Police Department found that it could cost more than $40 million to place security guards at the 103 buildings on K-State’s Manhattan campus.
Kevin Klein, university allocations committee chair and senior in mechanical engineering, discussed the closing of accounts from the previous year. Funds that were not used by organizations are then put into the Reserve for Contingencies Account. This year, $41,395.37 was unused, in comparison $26,856.30 that went unused last year.
Steve Starrett, director of Honor and Integrity Systems, spoke to senators about honor code violations. After giving examples of recent honor code violations, he said to senators that violations have been on the rise since he started three years ago. While they used to get less than 100 violations reported, they received almost 200 this year.
Representatives from Alpha Gamma Delta also spoke with senators to explain their ongoing colonization process.
Commendations were given to the campus police for how they handled the armed robbery suspect on campus on Sept. 4.
Drew Bormann, director of Healthy and Safety and freshman in business administration, updated students on the new lights on Denison Avenue and proposed adding ones on the east side of campus. In light of the recent safety issues on campus, he also recently met with administration on the best ways to ensure students are safe.
Andy Hurtig, student body president and senior in accounting, spoke to senators about his recent meetings with president Kirk Schulz about the recent incident with The K-State Marching Band. According to Hurtig, the self-imposed sanctions served as a manner of dissipating the issue and drawing attention away from it.
The privilege fee committee will be looking at their contract with K-State Athletics. Currently, SGA allocates more than $500,000 to the athletics department.
Conner Gray, junior in biology; Jack Nolte, junior in microbiology; and Sarah Sleiman Haidar, graduate in psychology, were appointed as new senators. Christopher Auten, graduate in communications studies; and Louise Breen, associate professor of history, were appointed to fill vacant seats.
Funding for Community Cultural Harmony Week was also considered. It will potentially be given $3,675.31.
