The Washburn Student Government Association concluded its current administration’s term and discussed transition plans during the April 9 meeting.
“We had our usual funding requests that we went through but we also had some different resolutions. One of the resolutions was the direct funding act,” said Ryan Durst, vice president-elect.
A key proposal is reviving the legislative research director role to monitor and report on state and federal policies and relay how they will affect Washburn.
“We haven’t talked about the changes that we are going to make that will affect the overall student body. [Some] other changes we are talking about are cabinet hours and our chair people hours,” Durst said.
Kate Coulter, president elect, says she wants to give students their voice back. The new administration aims to empower directors, chairs and senators with autonomy, offering guidance without micromanaging their work.
“The Direct Funding Act is something that this administration has been working towards. However, it’s a very complicated process. We have never done a direct funding sort of thing before. The bill didn’t pass just because there were a couple of pieces that were missing,” said Cameron Meseke, legislative director.
The Direct Funding Act will allow student organizations to request and receive money immediately instead of using the current system, which is currently designed for reimbursement only. The act is aimed to assist new organizations that don’t have current funds to use. The senate was supportive of the bill, but tabled it indefinitely so the next administration has more time to fully complete the act and fulfill its intended purposes.
“April 16, we have our transition power meeting which is basically where the current administration, the Bella-Wood administration, will gavel out. They will do their last reports and then Ryan and I, our administration, will gavel in,” Coulter said.There will be a short break meeting followed by the end-of-term banquet to transition from the current administration to the new one. The first official meeting of the Coulter-Durst administration is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23.
Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford.
