March 8, 2017 | Midwestern State University | thewichitan.com | Your Campus. Your News. | Vol. 81 No. 22
RHA proposes budget ARIANNA DAVIS REPORTER
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uring Student Government Association’s most meeting this week, issues and future plans regarding the Resident Hall Association, or RHA, were brought to attention on March 7. Rachael Miyahara, education sophomore and president of RHA, announced a budget proposal during the meeting that involves students living on campus. The budget proposal included wanting to add a $15 fee to housing costs, whether dorm or apartment living, to provide necessary funds for RHA activities. “Something the association wants to do is have a better relationship with our resident assistants. There is a separation between the residents and the RAs, when in reality we are all just students and friends,” Miyahara said. According to Miyahara, the budget proposal has only been brought up with students as a way to inform them early on rather than hearing about it unexpectedly from housing. An open forum will be held this Thursday and March 23 in the Legacy Multipurpose Room at 6 p.m. to allow students to know more about the proposal and speak on the topic. “We [RHA] want to be a bigger voice for the students living on campus. This budget will allow us to provide for the students and encourage ways for them to know one another, as well as their RAs,” Miyahara said. 78.4 percent of the expenses will go toward campus outreach, which primarily includes programs and activities — approximately 60 percent of the total outreach expenses. The proposal is to be voted on in a future SGA meeting. “We are going off what other schools have done for their budgets and applying it to our own in a way that could better benefit on campus students,” Miyahara said.
PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY JONES | THE WICHITAN
Maria Peña, SGA president.
Damian De Silva, SGA vice president.
Jaylon Williams, SGA secretary.
SGA executive-elects prepare for next year CORTNEY WOOD REPORTER
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he new student government association office executives are Maria Peña, political science junior, Damian De Silva, economics senior and Jaylon Williams, sociology junior. They will officially take office at the end of the spring 2017 semester. Until then, officers Shayla Owens, president and management senior, Andrea Mendota-Lespron, vice president and English senior and Manny Hoffmann, secretary and political science junior will continue in their roles, and begin the transition. “We had a smooth election season, and all three candidates are very deserving of these position,” Owens said. “They all worked hard and campaigned harder. I think the campus is in a good place with their student body executives and they will do a good job.” The election was moved earlier in the year to make sure the incoming executives spent enough time with the board for a smooth transition Owens said. “They were pushed up because we wanted to make sure the executives had enough time with us so that we can show them the outline for next year,” she said. “The current executives have a lot of knowledge and wisdom between
us, and we hope we are able to give them that so they won’t be nervous or apprehensive going into their first few months.” Once they take office, Peña, De Silva and Williams will work to recruit chairs for their committees, go to Board of Regents meetings, go to committee meetings throughout the university, discuss goals for the upcoming year and determine courses of action they will take to initiate connection with the student body. “Our student government is structured to represent and engage with organizations, and that’s what we should focus on helping them flourish and start focusing on individuals to then move to big picture,” Peña said. “I want to shift from a meeting setting and do more hands-on so they feel more engaged. I remember as a senator it got frustrating because I know that it sucks feeling like sitting here for an hour is all I can do.” Engagement is a continuous theme SGA strives for, Peña said, and feels getting vocal will grow student involvement and in turn bring more attention to events on the campus. According to the Chair of Board of Elections Samantha Treviño, psychology junior, this year’s turnout was about the same. Vice president had the most attention with 510 votes casted, while the president and secretary were both fewer than 500. With
the new officers, Treviño said she hopes they are active enough to increase involvement campus wide. “I was trying to get more people to vote, but there is only so much you can do to get people to participate,” she said. “We’ve always had the social media presence that we could reach people with, and social media is a good outlet, but I think it’s not reaching the number of people it used to. I’m hoping that these new executives will open SGA enough to where it includes everyone on campus.” That direct involvement to participation sparked Williams’ interest in SGA initially. Once she realized she had won, Williams said she was relieved because “so much effort spent” was campaigning, and she will use that energy to finish this year strong. “I’m looking forward to putting actions to the words I spoke during the debates,” Williams said. “One of the biggest things we talk about is retention, and students aren’t going to want to come back here if they don’t feel involved or connected to an organization. I feel like if you’re going to be in student government, you should also be involved in other organizations to use your connections to invite others into SGA, and they will see that this is an organization they want to be a part of.”