Student Govt: Equity, Vacancies, and Spring Break

The Student Government discussed Equity 2030, IT Solutions, vacancy elections and Spring Break at its weekly meeting Wednesday.

Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Henry Morris presented to the Student Government about a new initiative for the entire Minnesota State system called “Equity 2030.”

This new program aims to eliminate the educational equity gaps for first-generation, low-income and indigenous students as well as students of color at every college and university in the Minnesota State system.

“The goal is to ensure that, by 2030, there is no gap between majority students and those listed,” said Morris. 

One main goal is enhanced access. Morris said MNSU has 18% domestic people of color that attend the university, while domestic people of color make up 20% of the state’s population.

One main component of the program is using “data-based decision making” to find the main problems needing to be addressed.

While the original goal of the program was to create equity, it also benefits people across the board. For example, the data showed students from low performing inner city high schools are less likely to graduate.

Tech report

Vice President for Technology and Chief Information Officer Mark Johnson told the Student Government about the increased number of Adobe Creative Suite licenses available for students.

IT Solutions also spoke to the promising nature of open education resources that will lower the cost of textbooks for students. In the last three years, the use of open education resources has saved MNSU students over $300,000.

Filling vacancies

During the Student Government President Andrew Trenne’s officer report, he named Afnan Husain, a senator for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, the senator of the month. She was honored for her use of the MavLife app to distribute a survey.

Two new Senators were elected to fill vacancies in the Student Government. Audrey Hopwood was elected as an off-campus senator, and Zoey Macklanburg was elected as the new Residential Life senator.

Finally, the senate opened the floor for a discussion on the student perspective on how spring break should be handled during next semester.

There are currently four options on the table for how spring break will look, the first of which being having no change in the schedule and having spring break as is. Another option is to start one week later. The inverse is also an option, ending the semester one week early. The final option is the removal of spring break but adding extra-long weekends throughout the semester.

Senator Husain spoke out with an idea for making spring break later in the semester, and after the break, having the students stay at home. This would be similar to how the university is handling the Thanksgiving break.

Header photo: Student Government Vice President Arnavee Maltare, Speaker Kara Svercl and President Andrew Trenne lead a meeting, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2020 in Mankato (Maxwell Mayleben/The Reporter)