The Student Government Association announced the spring Senate election will be on April 14 and 15 through TopNet.
All of the executive board except Chief Communications Officer Preston Jenkins will graduate after the spring semester. There are several other seniors among the rest of the senate.
Student Body President Sam Kurtz emphasized the importance of this election in previous meetings due to an extremely senior staff.
The Senate passed Bill 4-25-S, which funds a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee tabling event to gather student responses on an anonymous mental health survey. The tabling will occur at Downing Student Union on Thursdayfrom 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The bill requested $70 from the legislative discretionary budget to cover the event. The data from the survey will then be used to “evaluate how the Student Government Association of Western Kentucky University can better support students with the subject of mental health.”
“There is a mental health crisis, and as an RA myself I have seen it in dorms,” bill author and Gordon Ford College of Business Senator Van Zing said. “I’m working with the Resident Staff Association president, Emma Harris, to come up with a resolution so that we address the issue of mental health.”
Also at the meeting, Dean of Students Martha Sales offered advice to the Senate.
“I encourage you to get an education, but also learn the simple things in life, like being kind,” Sales said. “I don’t care how smart you are if you don’t know how to treat people.”
Sales also emphasized the importance of a student’s role in the university environment.
“You are the reason why our university runs and operates,” Sales said. “You cannot isolate and educate at the same time.”
Staff Photographer Anna Bell Lee can be reached at annabell.lee279@topper.wku.edu.
