Student Government met with Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan's 12th congressional district, and passed six resolutions at their last meeting of the semester on April 6.
Dingell discussed current events and other topics to which she applies her time and then, Student Government members were able to ask questions and have conversations with her.
Topics included sexual assault, consent, financial literacy, public education, jobs, and more. Dingell encouraged Student Government members to be engaged, make a change and be a voice for their students. “We need to listen to each other more,” explained Dingell, “...Everybody here has had a different life experience, we have different perspectives, we learn from each other, respect, civility, empathy, compassion, and kindness matters.”
The Senate was able to have an hour-long conversation with Dingell on matters they care about. Student Government President Luis Romero said, “I enjoyed and appreciated her coming and answering questions from the Senators. It is important we have a working relationship with our representatives.”
New business included voting on six resolutions which were all passed with unanimous consent.
First, Resolution 107-08 was introduced and authored by Parliamentarian Tyler Kochman. Senator Cedrick Charles and Speaker of the Senate Auryon Azar support this resolution that recommends that the University sends out a monthly Student Government email to the student body.
“What the resolution would do would ask the University to create a once a month email from the Student Government where we could send out an update or newsletter to the student body letting them know what we’re doing,” Kochman said. “We can tell them about events that committees are hosting, programs we're offering, legislation we’ve passed, opportunities to get involved in Student Government.”
Resolution 107-09, authored by Vice President Colton Ray and supported by Senator Eva Long, Senator Karin Hartmaier, Senator Charis Bly, and Senator Jeffrey Hoang, was introduced to the Senate.
The Resolution addresses housing insecurity by asking Ypsilanti City Council and the University Administration to help low-income and marginalized students. “Specifically, this resolution would be sent to most likely the Mayor and the rest of the members of City Council to show that we have passed this resolution and are urging for these things to be implemented,” Ray said.
Next, Senator John Milkovich, who authored Resolution 107-10 which is supported by Senators Jessi Kwek, Bly, Charles, Hoang, and Hartmaier, explained the resolution. The resolution allocates $40,000 to EMU Library Textbook Affordability Initiative (ELTAI). ELTAI provides electronic library resources.
“ELTAI is an initiative in the EMU library that helps faculty use, find, open education resources that students can easily access online as either an alternative to textbooks or ELTAI will purchase copies of textbooks in electronic format so that students can use them just by logging into the EMU library website and accessing the textbooks directly there so that they don't have to go off and buy it themselves," Milkovich said.
Authored by Senator Long and supported by Speaker Azar and Senator Hoang, Resolution 107-11 allocates money towards free menstrual hygiene products for eight bathrooms across campus. This project is overseen by Swoop’s Pantry at EMU.
“Period Poverty is a really big problem in America,” Long said. “This resolution would appropriate funds to Swoop’s Pantry so that they could install dispensers in eight bathrooms across campus so that they would be free for students.”
Then, Resolution 107-12 was proposed and authored by Vice President Ray and supported by Speaker Azar to amend the 2020-2021 Student Government budget’s leftover funds to President Romero’s discretionary line item at the end of the Winter 2021 semester.
Last, authored by Parliamentarian Kochman and supported by Senator Charles, Hoang, Long, and Speaker Azar, Resolution 107-13 describes and expresses the support Student Government has towards EMU’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community (AAPI).
As stated in Resolution 107-13, “Student Government wants to convey to AAPI students and faculty that there is also great love for them among our student body. The EMU Student Government wants to convey that the student community feels concerned for the safety of AAPI and outrage at the violent acts that have occurred against AAPI across the country.”
For more information on EMU’s Student Government visit emusg.com
