The Student Government Association met for its weekly meeting on Tuesday where it passed one bill and appointed six students.
Bill 19-24-F, A Bill to Fund a Heat Press for the WKU Fashion Merchandising Department, presented by Senator Jenna Wells, was approved unanimously during the meeting. The bill was previously discussed in the last meeting of the fall 2024 semester but did not pass and was pushed to be discussed at the beginning of the spring semester.
โThere were some questions that I reached out to Professor (Seth) Howard about,โ Wells said. โIt looks like they had done a little bit of overspending in the past so they donโt have excess funds to put towards this.โ
The Fashion Merchandising department is working on the first WKU Design Week and plans to launch it this semester, which sparked its need for the heat press.
SGA allocated $240 for the heat press, with the funds coming from the Legislative Discretionary budget.
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โI just want to reiterate that in many instances, with the bills we passed, a lot of the times like we are making a difference in the student body,โ Caden Lucas, legislative operations committee chair, said. โI think with this one, specifically, we have a really neat opportunity to make up where there is a big gap where the university could not provide itself.โ
SGA also appointed six different positions in the Senate. Molly Ricke and Blake Grant were appointed as senators, and Samantha Lein and Gavin Grawe joined the Judicial Council. Lucas and Wells were appointed as committee heads.
โWe had a few senators resign over the break due to classes or other very personal issues,โ Student Body President Sam Kurtz said. โWe had some judicial council members graduate last December, and so through the (SGA)Constitution, I am required to appoint members to the judicial council.โ
The SGA meeting also focused on election preparations, emphasizing the need for a broad student representation. Currently, both the Senate and Executive Board are predominantly made up of upperclassmen.
โIf [youโre] not choosing to run again, we need to make this election as big as we probably can,โ Kurtz said. โWe need there to be a collective effort between all of us to make sure that students from every corner of campus are getting represented in this race.โ
The legislative discretionary budget increased from $4,400 to $4,737 โdue to unspent funds.โ
โThe reason for that increase is because we had to void a bill, because one bill got passed in the fall that didnโt get acted on,โ Chief Financial Officer Ethan Taylor said. โI want that to act as a reminder. Itโs great that weโre getting that money back, but itโs our responsibility to ensure that the money that weโre requesting gets spent.โ
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Student Body Vice President Donte Reed announced $12,000 in scholarships were awarded in the fall semester with $11,500 remaining for the spring.
Scholarships include the Gregory McKinney Leadership and Involvement Scholarship, First Generation Scholarship, Summer Term Scholarship and the SGA Promise Scholarship.
Reed also announced that SGA will donate $500 to the Heather Strode Scholarship fund.
โShe was a great woman,โ Reed said. โI think thatโs a great way to give back to her and help the family and a student who is also in need.โ
Staff Photographer Anna Bell Lee can be reached at annabell.lee279@topper.wku.edu.