Sept. 28, the Ball State Student Government Association (SGA) hosted special guests from the Indiana General Assembly and also proposed its first amendments of the year.
The Indiana General Assembly talked about an internship opportunity at the Statehouse that would take place from January to mid-April.
The internship focuses on working side-by-side with senators and representatives.
“You could either work in the comms department, who do a lot of the media work,” Press Secretary for House of Representatives Charles Melton said. “You could work with the legislative assistants and help with constituent work or you could work with policy and dig a little deeper into what some bills do. It is a great opportunity with great networking with leaders from all around Indiana.”
Two amendments were proposed. Both amendments are set to be voted on at the next meeting, Oct. 12.
The first amendment covers moving Residence Hall Association (RHA) Representative to Organizational from the Off-Campus Caucus.
RHA “is a group of on-campus students that work to provide a representative voice for all living in Ball State’s residence halls, unify and improve the on-campus living experience, and collaborate with campus organizations,” according to housing and residence life.
The other amendment proposes changing senator requirements, adding two hours to the required volunteer hours, making it four total.
“We represent the student body,” Sen. Taylor Perry said. “So the best way to know what the student body wants is to go out and talk to them and get to know them.”
SGA Chief of Staff Joseph Gassensmith continued to look into student wages.
Gassensmith reported the new wage levels for student workers. Level one pays $7.25 to $8.50, level two pays $8.50 to $9.50 and level three pays $9.50 to $12, which the Student Supervisor Handbook supports.
There are exceptions the student handbook suggests as “hard to fill jobs”, such as students who work non-traditional hours, jobs who work in short increments of time and summer employment with more significant duties.
According to the Ball State student handbook, “each vice president is responsible for seeking Cabinet approval for hourly wages about $12.00 for student employment vacancies in their division.”
“Those levels are the new policy that Ball State implemented in response to the resolution that failed, unfortunately, last semester,” Gassensmith said. “They were increased from what they used to be, before student wages were capped at minimum wage, now they go all the way up to $12 an hour.”
RELATED: Ball State SGA passes minimum wage resolution, now to be reviewed by University Senate
Gassensmith also spoke on the hours that a student could work.
Right now Ball State has student workers capped at 20 hours per pay period. He brought up hopefully raising that to 24-25 hours per pay period.
“They are struggling to fill student employment, and they wonder why,” Gassensmith said. “The reason why is because now they pay as much, they didn’t use to but now they do,” Gassensmith said. “They still don’t match the hours you can get at PayLess, Red Lobster, or Meijer where you can get 40 hours a week, that is 80 hours per pay period. At Ball State you can only get 20 hours per two weeks. They are shooting themselves in the foot more or less.”
The At-Large Caucus is set to hold a “Short and Sweet Survey,” at the scramble light Oct. 14 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. where students who want to partake in a survey will receive candy.
The At-Large Caucus also received a budget request for $40 for supplying their candy for the surveys. It passed 25-0 with one abstention.
Another budget request by the On-Campus Caucus for student engagement posters was passed for $30 for a starting budget. It passed unanimously.
There will also be a Ball State vaccination clinic Sept. 29 and 30.
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4.
Contact Zach Carter with comments at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ZachCarter85.
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