Legislation
1 piece of legislation was tabled to be read and voted on next week: Gender neutral restrooms
1 piece of legislation was voted on after its first reading, bypassing the second reading: blue bag recycling
3 pieces of legislation were read for the first time. They will be read for the second time and voted on next week.
Student Government Association introduced four pieces of legislation at their meeting this afternoon, the most introduced in one senate meeting this academic year.
President pro tempore Jack Hesser said the rest of February will see considerably more SGA legislation.
“The legislation that was read today was only a fraction of legislation sent to me,” he said, addressing the Student Senate to a round of applause. “There will be four to five pieces of legislation at every senate for the rest of February. I am really proud of you guys for that.”
Gender-Neutral Restrooms
Introduced last week, egislation regarding gender-neutral restrooms was set to be voted on during today’s meeting, but was tabled by its author for another week.
The resolution states that any buildings built or remodeled in the future include at least one, single-stall, gender-neutral restroom.
Gender-neutral restrooms are also called family restrooms and are helpful for people who do not define themselves by gender, caretakers of the opposite sex and nursing mothers.
Resolution author Carli Hendershot said she has spoken to associate vice president of facilities, Kevin Kenyon, but wanted to table the legislation so she can also meet with Alan Hargrave, director of Housing and Residence Life
Blue Bag Recycling
An initiative regarding blue bags for recycling, whichhas been in the works since last semester, was passed after being read in the Senate for the first time.
The resolution establishes a process that hopes to make blue bags supplied to every student in residence halls.
The second reading was bypassed so the resolution can be read by the Residence Hall Association Friday, then be read by Facilities and likely tested in Noyer Complex later this semester. If the trial goes well in Noyer, the initiative will be implemented in all residence halls next year.
“We want it to go full-fledged on campus next year, having people’s awareness of blue bags and of recycling go up,” said bill author Richu Aby. “Blue bags are just for recycling, and that’s the message I want to send.”
The blue bags will be paid for by Facilities, which already handles blue bags.
Midterm Course Evaluation Expansion
James Wells authored legislation to encourage midterm evaluations for all courses.
He said many students, although they are familiar with end of semester evaluations, are not as aware of midterm evaluations. He wants to change that.
If implemented, students could fill out online midterm evaluations, which would go directly to the professor. End of term course evaluations are sent to department heads before professors.
“This is a way of students being able to voice their opinions, and instructors to better prepare themselves. And they can give the students what they need to learn and grow,” Wells said.
Blackboard Testing Labs
This academic year inQsit testing labs were switched to wak-in only. This led some professors to phase out inQsit and offer tests on Blackboard instead.
SGA debuted legislation, encouraging Ball State to continue with walk-in testing labs and continue phasing out inQsit in favor of tests on Blackboard.
Cardinal Cash Expansion
Some students have the choice to pay using Cardinal Cash for laundry machines in residence halls, however not all residence halls are equipped with Cardinal Cash payment systems and others only exist in some but not all machines.
A senate resolution was written to address this problem, encouraging the university to expand Cardinal Cash to all laundry facilities
Bill authors Hesser and senator Bracken Petroviak said during a Senate meeting that ATMs on campus distribute $20 bills and residence halls are unable to provide change for $20 bills, making it difficult for some students to obtain quarters to use instead of Cardinal Cash.
“If students were able to utilize the Cardinal Cash loaded on their ID card, there would be no need to worry about quarters,” the bill said.
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