At this week’s Students’ Assocation meeting, Senate approved budgets for The Union and Student Health Clinic this week and had an open panel discussion with the deans of all colleges.
The budgets were presented at the meeting as recommendations by the Finance Committee in collaboration with Union staff.
The recommended budget for the clinic totaled $826,893, which decreased by $71,904 due to revenue earned from insurance billing. The budget was approved unanimously.
The body previously approved The Union budget at its March 12 meeting, but changes were made to the budget after receiving approval from the University Activity Fee Budget Committee.
The changes were made to ensure The Union remains at the same level of service as now. The allocation was then amended by SA from $1,145,767 to $1,234,270 for 2019.
During open forum, senators asked questions ranging from diversity, international recruiting, changes to their departments and future developments. Sen. Nick Lorang asked how SA can continue to support each college.
“Keep doing what you’re doing and serve,” said Lewis Brown, dean of the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering. “Keep cultivating the next generation of leaders.”
Toward the end of open forum, SA approved the SDSU National Society of Collegiate Scholars constitution. NSCS focuses on providing opportunities for students to earn scholarships.
SA looked at possible changes to South Dakota’s Student Federation. The federation is comprised of representatives from the public universities of South Dakota.
SA discussed wages for the executive board of the federation and how many executive positions there should be.
Currently, there are two positions on the executive board, with the executive director getting paid, but not the chair. The chair of Student Federation is SDSU’s SA State and Local Government Chair (and vice president-elect) Spencer Harwood.
SA discussed whether or not to pay the chair, and what the pay should be for both positions.
The next SA meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, March 26 in the Lewis and Clark room of The Student Union.
