Debate played a large role in Tuesday night’s Student Government Association meeting.

The meeting, held on South Campus in order to host a related open forum, sparked debate on both South Campus issues and on policies approved by SGA senates of years passed.

President Keyana Boka opened the forum by encouraging those in attendance at the meeting to discuss and debate over the recent closing of the South Campus bookstore.

“Why would you cut something like this, or food court or anything like that, in the middle of the semester? It’s kind of disserving your students,” Senator Cain Alvey said.

Scantrons, blue books and other testing essentials will be available in the South Campus food court. However, all other books and materials will be moved to the WKU Bookstore located on Nashville Road. A sidewalk is to be built connecting South Campus to this location.

“That WKU Store has more space, more apparel items,” Boka said.

A textbook sell-back location will be available on location at the end of the semester.

“I had hoped there would be some South Campus students we could have asked about what the process was…” Mark Reeves, executive vice president, said. “I see this as part of a broader issue of lack of consulting South Campus students and kind of demonstrating a lack of concern or respect even.”

After the forum closed, Boka announced that representatives from the Talisman had been in contact about implementing an older policy that would include a fee for the yearbook in student tuition.

In 2005, a policy was included on a student ballot that would allow a $9 fee to be included into tuition to help cover the costs of producing the Talisman. Despite the student body voting to approve the policy, the fee was shot down by the WKU Board of Regents.

“They never did implement the Talisman fee, and because of last semester, with budget cuts, Talisman took a considerable hit, having a considerable portion of their budget taken out,” Boka said.

This policy is being discussed as the Talisman is looking toward other means of funding the book in order to maintain the quality of the publication.

After Boka’s explanation, Senator Chris Costa called to revoke SGA’s stance on the policy.

“They get money, but they’re wanting more money,” Costa said. “Number one, that’s a lot of money, and number two, students are not going to support this.”

Costa said money should be used more for academics and academic positions.

This began a series of debates between senators regarding whether or not this motion should be approved.

“It’s okay to change position based on new changes and new environment,” Costa said.

Senator Jody Dahmer opposed resending SGA’s position, saying if the Talisman does not have the means to continue the quality of the publication, he supports a fee.

“I personally think there needs to be more data, like is the Talisman in danger of going under or definitely going to have a decrease in its quality if we don’t fund it,” he said. “The Talisman has been a part of WKU for the past 50 years.”

Boka announced that a meeting will be held with Talisman representatives on Friday to discuss the potential fee policy.

“They’re not completely for the $9 fee,” Boka said. “There’s room for opportunity there.”

Ultimately, the senate voted to reverse their stance on the issue, now stating SGA neither supports or opposes the fee at the current time. However, this does not mean the policy as a whole has been revoked as it was approved by student vote.

“There’s gray area as to what it [the SGA vote] actually means,” Boka said. “The position was taken down SGA-wise, and Judicial [Council] will meet to interpret what that actually means.”

Judicial Council will meet on Thursday to decide what Tuesday’s vote will mean for the policy.