The Student Government Association met on Tuesday Oct. 19 to discuss executive reports for the week and to highlight two guest speakers. 

The meeting began with guest speaker State Representative and WKU history professor Patti Minter (D-Bowling Green), who came to talk about her advocacy for a new bill in the Kentucky state legislature that will help stomp out predatory student loan companies. She is coining this piece of legislation the “Student Borrower’s Bill of Rights,” and her hope is that SGA will endorse this bill. 

“What’s real is that all of you are drowning in student debt,” Minter said. “This debt will have to be paid off by future generations if we don’t act now.” 

She also made a few clarifications that some senators sought in regards to loan forgiveness. 

“This is not to cancel the debt bill. Unfortunately, that’s a federal issue,”Minter said.

Guest speaker Mindy Johnson , assistant director of student activities,  elaborated on how SGA can take advantage of leadership positions within the department to brighten their chances of success in searching for a career. 

“Your resume has to be more than your college degree,” Johnson said. 

The bulk of the meeting began with reports from executive members. President Matthew Wininger kicked off the reports by introducing four new senate nominees. All senate nominees passed with unanimous consent and were sworn in by Chief Justice Holden Schroeder by the end of this week’s SGA meeting.

Executive Vice President MeLon Craighead introduced new committee nominations, all of which also passed with unanimous consent.

Public Relations Director Alexis Courtenay announced upcoming plans for another hilltopper hangout, with plans of it coming this Friday. 

Bill 5.21f was introduced to the senate, which sought out to initiate a Title IX training module for all SGA senators. The bill was passed by the senate body. 

News reporter Jake Jones can be reached at [email protected].