SGA 9/5 | Photo by Bethany Althauser | The Wright State Guardian
The Student Government Association held its weekly meeting on Tuesday, March 26, where a resolution was passed and upcoming events, including a potential future student organization, were discussed.
The CERT program
Robert Hance, emergency management specialist and intern for Public Safety, came to SGA seeking guidance on how to get a Community Emergency Response Team, a program he is passionate about, off the ground at Wright State.
“We're going to focus specifically on campus,” Hance explained. “[CERT] serves to educate, train and extend, so we want to educate the public on emergency response, emergency preparation [and] we want to train some individuals in the community on medicine, basic search and rescue, life support, CPR, things like that.”
When launched, Hance explained that the main role of CERT would be to listen for emergency calls and notify all CERT members in hopes of getting a trained student there to assist in the situation before the police or paramedics arrive. Hance was clear that these students would not be doing anything dangerous, just leading and assessing situations so that when the professionals arrive, they have an easier time doing their jobs.
“Initially, it's about six hours of training to be certified as a CERT. Additionally, it's however much training you want to do or not do to hone your skills,” Hance said.
Hance stated that his hope for CERT is to one day be a student-led organization, but for now, they are just gathering resources and trying to find interested students.
Resolution 24-08
Logan Smith, Raj Soin College of Business senator, sponsored a resolution that was presented to SGA in new business. Daniel Palmer, SGA advisor and government affairs specialist, supported the resolution and spoke on the aspects and complexities of this resolution.
The resolution would help create a Recreation Center, an initiative that previously began before the COVID-19 pandemic halted further progress. This resolution includes a $200 fee that would be included in students’ bills.
“The university is looking to work with this fee to implement some sort of a recreational facility paired with Career Services Center and the Student Union,” Palmer said. “What the university is really looking for at this point in time is a $200 fee per semester for both enhanced recreational opportunities for students in addition to a pretty robust state-of-the-art Career Services Center.”
Smith explained that the fee would not be levied on existing students but would begin in fall 2024.
The final point in the resolution is for the creation of a student advisory board for student input, according to Smith.
With the potential expansion, future students may be able to look forward to a partnership modeled after that of Wichita State University with their local YMCA (meaning a YMCA may go near WSU) and Career Services modeled after Miami University’s.
This meeting was the first that SGA had discussed this resolution, but it was voted on and unanimously agreed that they would be suspending the typical Robert’s Rules so that they could vote on the resolution the same day. The reason for speeding up the voting process is so that they could get the matter put on the agenda for the April meeting of the Board of Trustees.
When the Senate voted on the resolution, it passed unanimously.
Announcements
The Special Elections Committee members were voted on and approved, consisting of five members.
A “meet the candidates” event will take place on Thursday, April 4, at 7 p.m. in 009 Student Success Center.
Eric Corbitt, director of the Student Union and Campus Recreation, made several announcements regarding the upcoming eclipse and wants students to know that the eclipse event website is now live.
He also discussed a new club on campus.
“We've got a new Nerf club, and they've got their first event coming up on April 6,” Corbitt said.
This event will be held in the Student Union gym.
The Rowdy Bobblehead Award
Deyavion Washington, director of student health and wellness, passed the Rowdy Bobblehead Award to Hannah Davidson, College of Science and Math senator.
Washington thanked Davidson for all of her hard work, and Davidson was pleasantly surprised to be recognized.
SGA will meet again on Tuesday, April 2, at 8 p.m. in the Student Union Atlantis A/B room.
