COMMENTARY: Article minimized Glasgow student government

Roy Ratliff

I am writing this letter because I feel that the Nov. 13 article, “SGA, Glasgow campus unite for representation” may inadvertently have minimized the Associated Student Body of the WKU-Glasgow campus. I would like to give a clearer explanation of the Associated Student Body.

The ASB was an organization founded during Dr. Juanita Bayless’ administration of WKU-Glasgow. The organization was devoted to service work in the community and assisting students in achieving academic success. One such community outreach was a float in the annual Christmas parade in Glasgow. This outreach has become an honored tradition for the students and faculty of WKU-Glasgow. In addition, the ASB has awarded many scholarships to students so that they could attend summer and winter classes.

However, as the Glasgow campus has grown, the Associated Student Body needed to mature in order to meet the expanding needs of the students. As a result, the students at WKU-Glasgow wished to have a greater voice for themselves. Last Friday, Nov. 16, the students at the Glasgow campus confirmed this sentiment and passed by a unanimous vote of the students present to change its name and adopt a constitution allowing for the creation of the Glasgow Student Body Association.

The mission of the Glasgow Student Body Association is threefold. First, the officers of the Glasgow Student Body will each take part in participating in local government and commerce by attending and, when possible, assisting the Glasgow City Council, the Cave City Council, the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and the Cave City Chamber of Commerce with various community service initiatives that present themselves. Second, the Glasgow Student Body Association will provide not only leadership but a voice for the student body on the campus at WKU-Glasgow.

This forum will not only allow students to voice concerns but to provide a direct means of working with the faculty and administration of WKU-Glasgow in finding appropriate resolutions to these concerns. And third, the Glasgow Student Body Association is focused on continuity. The forum being created by the Glasgow Student Body Association and its projects, like the writing center at WKU-Glasgow, creates continuity. These projects will allow each senate and administration to leave the campus better than when they arrived.

I am excited about the opportunity that I have to serve the students at WKU-Glasgow and turning over the office of the president in our first election in the spring of 2013. I hope that we can have a good relationship with the College Heights Herald, and hopefully we will see more coverage of the regional campuses and the students who attend them.

 

— Roy Ratliff

Interim President, Glasgow Student Body Association