Five projects SGA plans to tackle this year

Jay Todd Richey, WKU’s Student Government Association president, speaks to senate members about the association’s goals for the new school year during the group’s first meeting at Downing Student Union on Tuesday.

Herald Staff

Each year, the Student Government Association passes bills and resolutions in hopes of making WKU a better university for students.

SGA President Jay Todd Richey said he hopes to continue this tradition and has outlined projects SGA plans to tackle this semester.

1. During Richey’s first campaign for president, he outlined a plan to renew SGA’s commitment to be the champion for the students of WKU. This semester, Richey said SGA’s Public Relations Committee will hold weekly tabling events to poll students on certain legislations.

2. In February, SGA Executive Board members discussed creating a suicide prevention initiative. Now, the initiative is slowly taking shape as SGA works to secure funding.

SGA is currently applying for campus suicide prevention grants. In the meantime, SGA will be focusing its efforts on informing students of the mental health resources currently available on campus.

3. Last fall, SGA passed a bill to establish a student body association at the Elizabethtown/Ft. Knox campus. Glasgow currently has a small number of students that craft policy for its regional campus. However, Owensboro remains the only campus with a governing student body.

Richey said he hopes to finally establish a student body association on Owensboro’s campus — a goal of his since the beginning of his first term.

4. Recognizing the rising cost of tuition, student office workers for SGA will be paid $10.10 an hour. Richey said workers deserve to be paid more and this raise will heighten the respectability of the job.

5. SGA began funding the Purple Line, the safe rides bus service that runs from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., in the fall of 2012. Four years later, the program is continuing its success.

However, Richey said this year he wants to put SGA’s brand on the buses.

Now that he is in his second term, Richey plans to drive these projects in an effort to make SGA a more visible and more effective campus organization for students.