SGA Recap: Color Printers, Student Fees, and More -

By Kyrien Keeton and Patrick D. Lewis

The Student Government Association Senate held its second meeting of this semester last Monday. Four pieces of legislation were approved.

Promoting Murphy’s After Hours

After the bill to reintroduce Murphy’s After Hours to CUA passed successfully last October, the motion reached its end with a lack of advertising. Last Monday, February 16, the resolution returned to the floor, this time represented by Senator Ortiz, imploring Dining Services to properly advertise the event.

Though the trial run last November was a huge success, with Senator Hermes reporting that 30-40 students attended the event, subsequent installments were less successful because of a lack of advertising. Senator Avila voiced his agreement, saying, “The issue is not a lack of interest, it’s a lack of awareness.” It was agreed upon that even a simple Instagram post could be an easy fix to the issue.

However, the senators quickly moved on to agree that the fix would not be so easy, as this lack of advertisement is not a simple oversight on the part of Dining Services, but a frequent occurrence. The resolution passed with unanimous consent, as the senators were largely in agreement about the mistreatment and lack of acknowledgement of Dining Services towards students, with multiple senators reporting that their attempts to reach out received no response.

Senator Janssen summed up issue when he said, “There’s this […] saying around SGA, basically, ‘oh we’re trying this new resolution with Dining Services, it’s probably not gonna happen because they’re not gonna get back to us.’”

To Install a Student Observer to the Board of Trustees

Freshman Senator Brinkley Colquitt was commended for bringing to floor a bill to install a student observer to the University Board of Trustees. About the student role, the resolution’s proposal reads: “The Student Observer shall be strictly non-speaking and non-voting, and shall not participate in Board discussions, deliberations, or decisions. The Student Observer’s role shall be limited to observation of open sessions and reporting through Student Government channels.”

Senator Hermes argued that a voting participant might be pertinent, as that is “the highest form of democracy,” but agreed that pushing for a voting student on the Board of Trustees was unlikely to succeed. This was followed by Senator Wages opposing the resolution, arguing that shared governance is a privilege, and something the SGA should not be abusing. After voting, the resolution passed with one against, the rest in favor.

Color Printer in Mullen Library

A resolution advocating for the purchase of a color printer for Mullen Library was introduced by Sen. Brinkley Colquitt and co-sponsored by Jack Hermes. The resolution said, “a lack of a conveniently located color printing option in Mullen Library creates unnecessary barriers for students, requiring additional travel, time loss, and logistical difficulty during peak academic periods… This burden falls disproportionately on students who do not have personal printers and live far from Leahy Hall, the only other option for colored printing on campus.”

It asked that the university consider how they could accomplish adding a color printer to the library and give SGA a timeline for when installation would happen.

The resolution passed unanimously.

Urging a Halt On Student Activities Fee Raises

Hermes introduced Resolution 18, which seeks to request that “the University pause any further increases to the Undergraduate Student Activity Fee for the next two (2) Academic years.”

In remarks, Hermes said he had spoken to the university’s Chief Financial Officer about the resolution. The legislation cites rising tuition, affordability concerns, and economic uncertainty as reasons to halt increases for the fee, which it says “represents an additional cost per semester for undergraduate students, disproportionately impacting low-income students, commuter students, and those who are less able to take advantage of extracurricular programming.”

The resolution was co-sponsored by Austin Janssen, Felipe Avila, and Peter Cheely. Avila said he believed keeping costs down would increase diversity among the student body. “It’s a start,” he said.

The resolution passed unanimously.