SGA Report | Stone Zone, Gay Straight Alliance formation bills passed
Allocations for Fall Fest also passed ahead of one of Bethel’s busiest weekends.
On Sunday, the Bethel College Student Government Association (SGA) held the second meeting of its 90th session — breaking into the more normal meeting content and addressing the upcoming Fall Fest.
Early on, the meeting went into a brief Executive Session where only senators were present. This was done to more privately discuss an ISR request made by a student for funds, which is a trend that’s likely to continue for such requests.
The Senate then addressed Bill 90-003 for the Formation of the Stone Zone, a student-led club created to support Bethel sports teams. It passed 6-1 and will be under the direction of senator Luke Schmidt. Sophomore and commuter senator Lucy Buller from Newton was the lone dissenting vote.
“I voted for it because the idea of representation in any of the lesser-observed sports such as women’s soccer would be awesome for the players,” Hayden Wallace, sophomore senator from Moundridge said.
“I spent four years watching my sister play soccer at Bethel and seeing the same people at every game [was] sad,” he added. “Pushing student engagement and allowing each team to possibly experience the student section equivalent of Saturday night football sounded amazing to me.”
“I chose to vote against the Stone Zone because I didn’t believe the club to be a necessary addition to our campus,” Buller said. “I think it would serve better both in budgetary purposes and action purposes under the umbrella of [the Student Activities Council]. I also know that there are several hard-working SAC members who run the sports-related events and promotion who’ll be displaced by the approval of the Stone Zone.”
The next two bills addressed were Bill 90-004 — an RSO request made by the Gay Straight Alliance — and Bill 90-005 for the allocation of funds for Fall Fest allowing $2,000 to provide food trucks and prizes for students during the festivities.
Both bills passed unanimously.
The SGA also discussed the establishment of a commuter lounge located in the Will Academic Center. This would be a hub for commuter students to rest between classes and meet with one another. There will be further discussion on this in the coming weeks.
The meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m. and the members of SGA split into groups to clean parts of Warkentin Court in response to a submission received from the anonymous complaint form SGA has initiated. This form can be found on the SGA website.
“After the SGA [convocation], when they debuted the anonymous complaint form, we received a submission with concerns about the cleanliness of stairwells in [Warkentin Court], the laundry rooms and kitchen, and the Mem Hall weight room,” student activities & engagement coordinator Samantha Bond said.
She continued, “To show their response, chief justice [Tanner] Wallace reached out to the head of custodial to inquire about how these spaces were being cared for … so [the SGA] is working together on this effort and decided to partake in a small service project in response to the complaint.”
The SGA’s next meeting will be on Oct. 23.