The Executive Branch for the Student Government Association, a student-run organization that serves as the voice of Ball State students by advocating student concerns to faculty, administration and the community, as well as to other students, had their first official meeting of the school year and discussed what was accomplished over the summer.
Student Government Association President Jack Hesser said, “We are excited with the progress we have already made to move this campus forward. This is just the beginning and we will continue to work hard for our students and our university throughout our term."
Here is a list of SGA's accomplishments and upcoming events, according to an August 24 press release.
Tailgate Central
Students will be able to attend “Tailgate Central” Thursday, September 3. There will be a tent in the tailgate area, providing students with a variety of athletic giveaways.
SGA has been working with Dana Thomas and Julie Sturek from the Cardinal Choices subcommittee to assist in day-of operations for their alcohol-free tailgate activities during tailgate. SGA is excited for this partnership as they seek to provide more alcohol alternatives for students heading to the game. Look forward to some free T-shirts, food and games as well as the opportunity to meet some of Ball State's athletes.
Workshops for incoming freshman
Sign-ups for SGA’s one-hour, once a week workshop for incoming freshman students opened at the end of July. The workshops will start the second week of school and will run for five weeks. Each group is assigned based on the subjects the freshman are interested in discussing, such as internships, networking, studying abroad and peer pressures.
Currently over 50 freshman have expressed interest in the program.
Funds for resident assistants
The Student Government Association has made $500 available to Resident Assistants and Hall Councils for programming concerning sexual assault education during the first six weeks of the school year. All hall directors have been notified of these funds and are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.
New phone charging station
SGA installed one phone charging station in the Atrium. Based on the station's success success this fall, assessment will be made on how many more machines SGA will need to put in over winter break and spring break.
BSU student card reading machine
SGA and Matt Stevenson, director of business services and special assistant to the associate vice president for business and auxiliary services, partnered to create SGA’s card reading machine initiative. SGA will assist in transporting current machines to various athletic events during games, specifically in Scheumann Stadium and Worthen Arena, and will provide the means for students to utilize their dining plus and cardinal cash. SGA will also launch a public relations campaign for students to learn how to use the machines available. At the end of the year, additional machines will be purchased and placed more permanently in the facilities.
Hot food hours extended at campus dining locations
SGA has created a partnership with the Residence Hall Association, and came to the conclusion that weekend traffic in the Atrium is incredibly low. As a solution, Campus Dining proposed closing the Atrium on Sundays and reallocating those hours to serve hot food later during the week. Hot food is now extended by a minimum of 1 hour in almost every single Residence Hall dining area.
SGA scholarships
Ashton Hampton was the first recipient of the Atlas Study Abroad Scholarship. Hampton received $500 to assist in her fall travels to Italy. Thanks to the work of the previous executive board, SGA was also able to provide scholarships for students attending some of the summer bridge programs. Approximately $500 was given to students to assist in their ability to participate in these programs.
SafeZone training event for allies of Gender Sexual Romantic Minority
SGA is working with the Residence Hall Association to schedule their first big SafeZone event to train members as allies to friends in the Gender Sexual Romantic Minority (GSRM) community. The big training day is scheduled for early October. In addition, SGA be will reviewing the current SafeZone model in a meeting during the first week of classes to create a more time effective version of the program that is more conducive to students’ schedules while retaining the important information necessary for proper training.
Diversity Day Chair, Gabi Lloyd, will be announcing more at the first student senate of the semester September 2.
Diversity welcome week
August 27 is the date of SGA's diversity exposure welcome week event. SGA has partnered with the Multicultural Center, the Office of Orientation and the Office of Student Life to bring Justin Jones-Fosu to speaker on diversity’s role on a college campus and how it can be different from many people’s experiences before college.
Student mixer focused on international students
SGA is working with the Residence Hall Association to establish their first student mixer focused on international students. A date will be announced September 8.
Proposed water filing station
SGA worked with facilities to get a water filling station installed in the Whitinger building. SGA is working with the Director of Dining Services to distribute reusable tumblers and Cardinal Cups to students to encourage a more eco friendly campus.
Shuttle service to the stadium
The Scheumann Shuttle will start alongside the first opening game on September 3. In addition to traditional shuttles to the stadium – because of the weekday – SGA has partnered with athletics to provide a shuttle service to the off campus area, similar to the blue loop. This service will be more prominent during SGA's weekend games.
Progress on campus learning space
SGA has been involved in the interactive learning space advancement and have worked with the Office of Educational Excellence to coordinate the projects. In terms of the Burkhardt and Robert Bell projects, SGA has been involved during the preplanning, construction and design elements of the space. While the Office of Educational Excellence Administration made the final decisions, the student voice was involved as an important component of the spaces success.
The co-sponsorship guidelines have been updated this summer. The new guidelines are more in line with other organizations so that the process is more uniform across campus. SGA forms such as the U-senate and student-senate have now been updated and available on the website.
Activity fair
SGA sponsored the activity fair and provided the ice cream along with many of the prizes.
Summer bridge program
During Welcome Week, SGA had a variety of people volunteer for the C.L.A.S.S. summer bridge program.
The Student Government Association’s executive board, Atlas, campaigned on the idea of 21 platform points that they would accomplish in their one year term. Since taking office April 15, Atlas has completed 10 of these platform points and has also taken on other projects deemed beneficial for students. To see the entirety of the platform visit www.ballstateatlas.com/platform.Location
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