The Slippery Rock Student Government Association announced their new advocacy project at their regular senate meeting Monday.
Project Positivity is an advocacy project to help spread awareness about bullying on social media and instill a sense of safety on campus for every student. Vice President of Campus Outreach Jared Stanley explained where the idea for the project came from.
“We have noticed that there is an issue on campus with YikYak and Fade and things of that nature. There’s a lot of negative things happening and to combat that our advocacy project is focusing on instilling a positive nature through social media,” Stanley said.
Stanley said there will be an event on March 3-4 to help petition to have people sign up to say that they’re not going to produce negative comments and also down vote negative comments on YikYak.
Students who would like to participate in the positivity project can hashtag “#projectpositivity” on Twitter and Facebook and also put out positive comments on YikYak.
Dr. Brad Wilson, interim associate provost of transformational experiences, was one of the guest speakers at the meeting. Wilson discussed the university’s ongoing plan to integrate academics with student activity and student life.
“Basically what’s happened under President Norton and Provost Way is that there are two traditional areas that are part of the university,” Wilson said. “There’s the academic side and traditionally, there has been another part of the university that focuses on student activity and student life. Those two areas don’t overlap a whole lot. What President Norton was hoping to accomplish with the reorganization is to try to bring the academic and student affairs areas closer together.”
Wilson also encouraged students to get involved with the search for a new associate provost for student success.
The club tennis team was the second guest speaker at the meeting. They expressed their concern about the rehabilitation of the tennis courts on campus and how the condition of the courts serves as a safety hazard to not only the students, but the coaches as well. Coach Matt Meredith said the courts haven’t been touched in 20 years.
“When I was a student at this university we had 24 courts and we had a less population,” Meredith said. “We’ve given up courts to make for parking lots and other things. It would be nice to see that recreation and wellness is part of what we’re doing here and that everyone has a place to play.”
Katie Hill, SGA president, said the senate’s next step is to discuss the matter further at their next informal meeting.
SGA approved business credit card applications for the SGA Bookstore, SRSGA Preschool and SRSGA Inc. Wendy Leitera, SRSGA Inc. Business Manager, explained the use of the credit cards.
“The bookstore’s credit card will be dedicated to textbook purchases. The preschool and childcare center’s credit card will be dedicated to supplies, mainly lunch supplies, when the dining halls are closed and then the card for the cooperative activities office will be used for clubs and organizations that need to make purchases,” Leitera said.
The Swim Club was granted $1,581 to help with travel expenses as the team travels to Atlanta for the National Swim Club Championships.
SGA approved the Club Basketball Team as a recognized organization on campus. Commuter Senator Breanna Bayer was elected to serve as election commissioner for the senate. Andre Roberts was elected as Graduate Senator and Wendy Leitera was named “liter” of the week.
Dr. Itzi Meztli, SGA Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) representative, expressed his disapproval in the weather emergency team’s decision to not cancel classes on Monday, Feb. 2 when the roads and sidewalks were covered with ice.
“About four or five years ago, we had a flash freeze like we did on Monday, Feb. 2,” Meztli said. “The sidewalks were so slippery that one of the faculty members slipped and fell. At that time, I brought it up when APSCUF meets with the administration to discuss issues and winter concerns. We looked at all the PASSHE schools to see how they handle inclement weather and what their policy was. Basically the weather policy is you either do nothing, or you go into a two-hour delay, which the university didn’t do on Feb. 2, or you cancel your day and/or evening classes.”
Meztli said there is an obstinate attitude on this campus about canceling classes and the university is dropping the ball.
Hill said that the student government association is not directly involved with the decision to cancel classes, but is making efforts to ensure the voice of the students is carried to the administration when appropriate.
The next meeting will take place March 2 at 8:45 p.m. in the theater of the Robert M. Smith Student Center.
