Student Government Holds First Meeting of Spring Semester
Bailey Brendel ® Staff Writer |
On Wednesday, January 13th, 2020 at 4pm, the Minnesota State University, Mankato Student Government held their first meeting of the semester in the Ostrander Auditorium. After roll call, they called up presentations.
The first to present was Cynthia Janney on the room and board rates for the 2021-2022 school year. In her presentation she brought up the costs of this past year with a net COVID-19 cost of 2.9 million dollars due to Thanksgiving break refunds and Spring semester contract releases.
After Janney talked about this past year, she discussed the budget and room and board rates moving into next year, and said they are still in the processing information for the next year’s confirmed rates.
The next presentation was from Henry Morris on the Maverick food pantry. Located in the Carkoski Commons just down the hall from the Student Health Services on campus, the Maverick food pantry allows students who might be struggling with food insecurity and helps to combat that.
This service allows students to come in once a week to pick up food from the pantry. The pantry is currently looking for more ways to minimize the costs of the service and for more ways they can give to students through this program.
The next presentation was from Alexandra Kearly and McKenna Hogan on the Student Ambassador program. In their presentation they talked about encouraging students to join the program for numerous reasons.
Kearly and Hogan talked about how the program includes a diverse group of students who are positive about their experiences at MNSU. Some benefits students in this program are able to receive include 20% off textbooks, 50% off at the bullpen, and many more.
If you are interested in joining, be sure to fill out the application on the Engage website.
After presentations, the meeting moved to an open forum.
Assistant CIO for Academic Technology Matthew Clay talked about FlexSync classes and how the University is working on updating more classes to fit the FlexSync format. This in turn will help students stay safe while still getting the education they deserve.
Dean of Students and Residential Life Director Cynthia Janney talked about updates that were made to the internet connection in the residential buildings, following issues in the past semester.
Lastly, Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management David Jones talked about COVID-19 updates and how they are hoping for the vaccine for health care workers and at risk people on campus first in late March and early April.
A Senator position for the College of Allied Health and Nursing as well as two new Residential Life Senators and an Off-Campus senator position is open! If interested check out the Student Government Engage page.
The meeting of the Student Government concluded after all topics were discussed.