K-Staters,
Happy Monday! Just like last week, I want to first and foremost remind you of the filing deadline for Student Governing Association office: it’s Friday — this Friday, the 14th — at 4 PM. To file, go online to your iSIS account and click on the “Student Government Elections” link under the Self Service Menu. I can’t encourage it enough!
If you run and are elected to SGA, one of the most valuable experiences you may gain is with SCTE, the Student-Centered Tuition Enhancement Committee. SCTE is beginning its work for this year right now, and I’m excited to tell you about it. Each year, around $1 million is granted to the committee within the university’s central budget, and it is entirely up to the SGA leaders on the committee how the money is spent. Campus units and individuals submit proposals throughout the fall semester to the committee, those proposals are revised throughout February, and the committee submits its recommendation for the money to Student Senate in March.
Past examples of programs funded by SCTE include Powercat Financial Counseling, Career and Employment Services’ Internship Director, K-State First, the Green Action Fund, and the Student Design Center. A number of exciting proposals were submitted this year — so much so that the committee faces difficult decisions in the next few weeks. New proposals include two relating to our platform goal of professional mentorship, and one relating to another platform goal of wireless internet improvements on campus. Also applying for funding are the Kansas Summer Teams, Tree Campus USA, and the Public Health Lecture Series, among others.
Your fellow SGA leaders and I are particularly excited about a plan we’ve worked on with President Schulz, VP for Administration and Finance Cindy Bontrager, and VP for Student Life Pat Bosco that would move the Veteran’s Center, LGBT Resource Center, and Education Opportunity Fund (EOF), all SCTE entities, to stable, long-term central administration funding. As a part of that plan, the portion of EOF currently funded by Privilege Fee would be replaced by Diversity Programming Committee (DPC), allowing it longer-term funding as well. The plan would lesson the burden students face through Privilege Fee and provide consistent funding for some of K-State’s most vital programs. It will be voted on in Student Senate in the coming weeks!
As always, let me know if you have questions about SCTE or anything else. I’m here to serve you!
Eli Schooley
Student Body President