At the Oct. 13 Student Government Association meeting, SGA Vice President Seth Manning presented a new piece of legislation to the senate, and Student Trustee Austin Ramsey informed SGA members on news from the ETSU Board of Trustees.
Manning presented legislation SSR-20-006, which is “a resolution that calls on the university to disaffiliate from current and future academic, athletic and all other partnerships with private institutions which discriminate on the basis of race, sexual orientation, or which decline to reasonably accommodate persons with disabilities.”
This emergency piece of legislation was presented because of the recent firing of a Milligan University professor due to the professor’s sexual orientation. Manning said he, as a proud Christian and member of the LGBTQ community, considers the issue personal and would like to see ETSU serve as an example of inclusivity.
The legislative bill was approved by the SGA senate and will be presented to ETSU Academic Affairs on Oct. 20. SGA will be notified of a decision on the bill by Oct. 27.
Also during the meeting, Trustee Ramsey welcomed the junior senate and presented a quick review of the recent Board of Trustees meeting. The Board meeting is livestreamed each month.
The most notable news from the board meeting is the significant reduction of out-of-state tuition for ETSU students. The reduction is meant to encourage out-of-state applications.
The Board of Trustees does not anticipate a financial loss from the reduction, as the projected increase in the number of out-of-state applicants will equal or potentially outweigh the financial loss. A third-party group was brought in to analyze how tuition is being handled by other universities before the Board of Trustees made the decision to reduce out-of-state tuition.
Other Board of Trustees updates include the approval of an audit plan and an update to the Equity Inclusion and Strategic Action plan.
On Oct. 10, Ramsey and other Board of Trustees members attended a concert at the newly-finished Martin Center. Ramsey spoke highly of the concert and the venue and encouraged SGA members to tour the new venue. The Martin Center can support Broadway plays and will be a performance hall for ETSU’s fine arts programs.
After Ramsey fielded questions on the Board of Trustees meeting, Manning, in the absence of President Shivam Patel, swore in a new member to the SGA senate: Chloe Philpot.
In other business, SGA Secretary of Allocations Rosie Smith encouraged student organizations to apply for BUC Funds through SGA and hold events on campus.
In a recent change of events, SGA invited junior senate members to observe the meeting through a YouTube LiveStreaming link to encourage community involvement.
