President Caboni visits SGA to promote strategic planning committee

Emily DeLetter

President Timothy Caboni visited the weekly Student Government Association meeting on Tuesday night, speaking on the importance of the newly formed strategic planning committee.

“What this process will produce is a roadmap for the next decade for Western Kentucky University, what we want to be known for, where we are headed, and how we’re going to get there” Caboni said during the meeting. “We have worked hard to have representation of faculty and staff, the student government association and representation all across our stakeholder groups.”

Speaking on the changing population of students at WKU, Caboni mentioned the lower number of full-time students and the rising enrollment of dual-credit students.

Advertisement

“We’re going to have a memorable year or two ahead,” Caboni said.

SGA president Andi Dahmer also expressed the importance of the strategic planning committee.

Dahmer mentioned a forum for students concerning the committee, which will meet Nov. 28 and will be open for all students to attend and add their ideas for working groups of the committee to hear.

Dahmer said the goal for the working groups is to send documents to the steering committee next semester.

SGA Vice President Savannah Molyneaux brought forward the first read of a bill to fund a project collecting student voices and experiences with sexual assault.

“The goal of this project is to raise awareness about sexual assault,” Molyneaux said.

Molyneaux said contributors to the project would remain anonymous, and the project would be open to students of all genders. Students’ stories would be collected through the SGA website, which also currently holds resources for reporting sexual assault through the ‘Report It!” button.

Bowling Green junior Francisco Serrano brought up bill 6-17-F, which is currently in its first read. The bill concerns Bowling Green’s fairness ordinance.

Serrano, vice president for the Student Coalition for Renter’s Rights, spoke about the importance of the fairness ordinance for LGBT students renting houses or apartments in the Bowling Green area.

“Currently we have students in the LGBT community that are faced with discrimination of housing,” Serrano said. “Having a fairness ordinance passed in Bowling Green is important for the sake of our LGBT students. We need to band together.”

Funding for extra library hours during finals week was brought forward under bill 36-17-F. The bill was passed unanimously.

SGA approved the funding for WKU’s chapter of No Lost Generation to allocate travel costs for a visitor associated with the documentary “Like We Don’t Exist,” which will be shown on campus this week.

No Lost Generation will be receiving $300 from SGA under bill 28-17-F to allocate travel costs for Ansley Sawyer, co-producer and executive producer of the documentary.

Sawyer flew from California exclusively for the screening of this film, which will be held Thursday in Jody Richards Hall, formerly Mass Media and Technology Hall.

Advertisement

The bill was unanimously approved.

The most debated bill during the meeting was bill 29-17-F, which aimed to clarify the role of the SGA Judicial Council with regards to the rule concerning senator attendance.

Speaker of the Senate Ryan Richardson authored the bill, but pulled it from voting after over 40 minutes of technical questions and debate regarding the language and structure of the bill.

The Senate brought forward Resolution 5-17-F, which aimed to “strengthen online programs and provide federal funding” for students who go forward with reporting sexual assault. The bill was passed unanimously.

SGA will not meet next week due to Thanksgiving break. The next meeting will be after the break, on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

Reporter Emily DeLetter can be reached at 270-745-6011 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @emilydeletter.