The Slippery Rock Student Government Association held a formal meeting Monday night to approve new initiative requests and recognize some new clubs at SRU. Both the Black Action Society and RockOut, SRU’s LGBTQIA organization, were able to secure the funds necessary to bring prominent speakers to campus to shed light on their respective causes.
Skylar Kergil is a transgender speaker who will be speaking on November 13 at 7:30 in the Smith Student Center Theater. Kergil’s speaking fee of $1,000 fee was covered by SGA, allowing him to tell his story of transition and the journey that he chronicled on YouTube for the world to see.
Slippery Rock’s SGA also allocated $5,000 in speaking fees to the Black Action Society to bring Leon Ford to campus. Ford is a victim of racial profiling and police brutality, the latter of which led him to be paralyzed from the waist down. He will be speaking in February as a part of Black History Month in an effort to promote an understanding of the oppression many African Americans still face today.
Renee Bateman, SRU’s Health Promotion Coordinator gave a presentation on the state of emotional wellness on campus and updated those in attendance of the success of the Just In Case app introduced last year. From May through November of this year, the app had 2,037 unique visitors and a total of 13,321 page views. In addition to this, Health Promotion is working to get students involved in training other students to develop techniques that can improve emotional well-being.
“We’re really working to be more inclusive for students to let them know the best ways to seek the help that they need,” Bateman said. “We hope our peer to peer approach to social wellness will have a positive impact on Slippery Rock students moving into the future.”
SGA President Rachel Lawler recapped last month’s blood drive, in which Slippery Rock students contributed 41 units of blood, enough to save 118 lives. Lawler also mentioned the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner on November 20 in the Student Center Ballroom and reminded students of events on campus that celebrate Military Appreciation Week.
Scott Vogelgesang, VP of Student and Academic Affairs, outlined the details of the Student Life Survey and reiterated that the survey would be discussed at length during their next committee meeting. Campus Outreach VP Dallas Kline thanked all campus organizations who participated in last week’s Harvest Fest Activities and announced that the movie Dunkirk would be shown in honor of Military Appreciation Week. She and her committee will soon be meeting to discuss the movie schedule for the spring semester.
Vice President of Internal Affairs reminded senators that they were having a bonding event on November 10 in the Ski Lodge and that she was fielding ideas on T-shirt designs for a fundraiser. Speaker of the Senate Josh Jenkins announced he and his team have been brainstorming ideas for Weekend of Welcome next fall and sending SGA representatives to commuter breakfasts.
Parliamentarian Brennan Smith announced his work with graduate senators to possibly make changes to the position in the future, in addition to having the initial discussion on amending the Social Justice Committee as a standing committee so their chair could vote in future SGA decisions. Social Justice Chair Victoria Davis outlined issues surrounding care breaks offered by SRU, specifically citing a cancellation of a trip to Jamaica that was the only trip offered to a predominantly black nation. She and her team a working to get the trip offered for the future while also continuing to fight for the rights of transgender and non-binary students who fear being outed on university platforms such as d2l.
The Association of Residence Hall Students announced that they will be holding a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving event in the Student Center Theater. They will be showing the classic cartoon while serving snacks like jelly beans, pretzels and toast. School Wellness Education will be holding a ‘gloga’, glow in the dark yoga, event in the Student Center Ballroom on December 11 to help students relax before finals week.
Rock Royalty Step Team, a group dedicated to foster interest in African American dance and culture, was recognized as a new club by SGA. They were joined by Men of Strength, a club dedicated to educating people on the risks of sexual assault on campus, as a newly recognized organization.
The E-Sports Club’s first time funding request of $60 to pay for a streaming service to attract higher level players to their events. The Inline Hockey Club was also reimbursed $705 for gas for three vehicles they used to transport the team to a tournament in New Cumberland, PA on October 28-29.
A conference grant totaling in $2,000 was allocated to several on-campus organizations. The funds were broken up as $500 to the Park Ranger Society, $270 to sorority Zeta Phi Beta, $490 for the Athletic Training Association, $500 for the Student-PA State Education Association, and $240 to School Wellness Education. The grant was friendly amended by Finance VP Keffer after the American Marketing Association did not send a representative to receive their request of $500.
The next formal SGA meeting will take place on November 20 in the Student Center Theater at 8:45 p.m.
