Washburn Student Government Association had a meeting Feb. 20. To start, executive staff talked about future events and plans at Washburn University. Next, Marketing director Barker briefed the attendees about the big ticket raffle give away prizes, such as Amazon gift cards. Weinbrenner, chief of staff, then summarized the Union Underground Bash event. WSGA President Zac Surritt spoke about communication policy due to cold weather, and requests for student feedback on the communication, both positively and negatively. 

JuliAnn Mazachek, Vice President for Academic Affairs, explained that Higher Learning Commission (HLC) will be visiting Washburn University and Washburn Tech campuses March 25 to 26. HLC surveyed our students to share their opinions on the university earlier this year. The HLC might ask questions for students based on five criteria: Mission, integrity, teaching/learning quality, recourses and support, teaching/learning evaluation and improvement, resources, planning and effectiveness. 

Next, Surritt and senators discussed the constituency plan. WSGA has a large senator system, usually composed of all academic departments. Currently, WSGA has 34 senators, including one seat for an international student, but Surritt’s plan is to change the 34 senator seats into 36 to encourage more diversity. Approximately seven WSGA senator seats are filled by the School of Business, 13 from the College of arts and sciences, one from nursing and four from applied studies. He proposes that we need to include graduate students as well.