William Jewell College Student Senate has a lot planned for this semester. They are working on bringing more diversity to campus and collaborating with other organizations.
Senate is working on bringing more speakers and activities to campus. An upcoming speaker is Glenn North, poet laureate of the 18th and Vine historic jazz district. He will be performing and discussing his life and recent projects.
The Senate policy committee is mostly focused on improving the alcohol policy, the upperclassmen housing policy and the off-campus housing policies.
Senate hopes to improve communication.
“This semester, we will be working to improve our communications by updating our website and encouraging attendance at our Town Hall and Senate meetings” said Jacob Dice, sophomore economics, physics and mathematics major and Senate event chair.
They are hoping to inform the student body as much as possible and give them the opportunity to get involved. They are working to strengthen their communication with faculty and students. Their website now has a feature where campus students and organizations can request funds for activities. The deadline for large fund requests is March 9.
Senate is hoping to work with College Union Activities and other organizations more often. By the end of February, they are planning to host a bubble soccer tournament in partnership with Student Life. They are also planning a second Gotcha game in March and a grill out in April for the softball and baseball games. An important aspect of these events for is reusable event materials.
They’re planning to keep their monthly meetings with Provost Dr. Anne Dema and President Dr. Elizabeth MacLeod Walls and are on track to plan and collaborate with Dr. Andy Pratt, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion more often. Luce-Virlynn Apollon, senior nursing and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major and Student Senate Vice President and external engagement committee chair, is working to improve Senate’s outreach with Jewell’s Director of Residence Life, Ernie Stufflebean, and the Dean of Students, Shelly King, to improve policies and overall school improvement.
Carman Stephenson, first-year elementary education major and Senate member, talked about what the senators are planning to do to keep the student body informed.
“We are looking to increase Senate and student engagement through Coffee with Senators. This has been successful in the past and we hope this will be true of this year as well,” she said.
This will give students another platform to talk about issues they hope to improve. Senate is hoping to keep up the “Senate Top Five” emails each week to advertise.
Photo by Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.