WSGA opens talks for minimum wage increase on campus

Tiana Smith, Content Creator|November 18, 2022

  • Katherine Cook, communications and marketing director, gives her cabinet report. WSGA had its weekly senate meeting Nov. 16.

    Tiana Smith

  • Chloe Chaffin, health and wellness director, gives their cabinet report. The health and wellness committee are currently working on supplying free pregnancy tests across campus.

    Tiana Smith

  • Sierra Jeter, diversity, equity and inclusion director, gives her cabinet report. The DE&I committee talked about getting stickers for Native American Heritage Month.

    Tiana Smith

  • Shayden Hanes, WSGA president, and Quinn Leffingwell, WSGA vice president, give an update on their administration’s progress. They talked about different goals they’ve been working on.

    Tiana Smith

  • Shayden Hanes, WSGA president, talks about the resolution to raise minimum wage on campus. WSGA released a survey a few weeks ago regarding students’ opinions on the matter.

    Tiana Smith

  • Christopher Bergin, WSGA senator, discusses recycling on campus. Bergin proposed an alternative to the current recycling system that was tabled indefinitely.

    Tiana Smith

  • Ethan Matthias, WSGA senator, asks questions about the resolution. There were a lot of questions from members regarding the logistics of the recycling proposal.

    Tiana Smith

  • Mae Atakpa, vice chairperson, discusses the proposal. Members voted to table the resolution until it could be further planned out.

    Tiana Smith
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Members of the Washburn Student Government Association met for their weekly senate meeting Nov. 16, 2022, where they discussed job wages and recycling programs.

Members voted on a resolution regarding raising the minimum wage for on-campus jobs. The current minimum wage on Washburn’s campus is $7.25/hr. This is much lower than the livable wage in Kansas, which is $15.87/hr. With the passing of this resolution, WSGA hopes that the minimum wage will be increased campus wide. This does come at a cost of fewer jobs on campus. WSGA does not see this affecting too many individuals, as there are currently over 100 vacant job positions on campus that are projected to stay empty.

Another resolution that was brought before members concerned the possibility of improving Washburn’s recycling program. The idea of the resolution was for Washburn to have a student volunteer-run recycling program instead of paying the city for its services. This resolution was tabled indefinitely as members said it was not thought-out and planned enough.

Edited by Glorianna Noland, Justin Shepard