During their regular senate meeting Monday, the Slippery Rock University Student Government Association (SGA) approved the hosting of a leadership conference this spring. “The rest of the fall semester we’ll put a committee together and we’ll plan it,” Anthony Plumberg, SGA Vice President of Campus Outreach, explained.
The conference will be open to all students and aims to improve the clubs and organizations on campus. “We’ll invite the campus to be a part of it,” Plumberg said. “Ideally, I’d like to invite two members from every club or organization to attend the conference for free which would be almost 300 people.”
Some of the possible workshops could include how to budget more effectively, how to plan events and how to be more professional. However, the many of the details have yet to be laid out. “Really it’s very free flowing. Whatever the clubs and organizations cosponsoring want, we can bring. So this could be a conference that could change very well year to year,” Plumberg said.
That might not be the only conference coming to Slippery Rock this year. SGA also approved submitting a bid to host the 2014 Board of Student Government Presidents (BSGP) Conference. SGA President Rogers “Buddy” Clements explained, “Just because we bid on it doesn’t mean we’re going to have it.”
Still, Clements felt hosting the conference could be a successful endeavor at Slippery Rock. He explained, “I honestly believe we can hold a better one than Edinboro did last year.” Clements also mentioned a few reasons for hoping to host the conference, including having the opportunity to include as many SGA senators as possible in the conference. “If it’s here, everyone [in SGA] can be in it…everybody [in SGA] will be a part of it.” he said.
SGA also approved of Slippery Rock’s plans for the creation of a world-class competition disc golf course. The funding for these plans actually has nothing to do with SGA, derived primarily from the borough’s tourism funds and with some support from the University. “This is going to be a huge economic impact for the region.” Brad Kovaleski, Advisor to SGA, said. Kovaleski also explained that the University has wanted to do this for a number of years.
The evening route cuts from the Happy Bus resurfaced as a point of discussion during open forum. Beginning this semester, the Monday through Thursday evening route of the bus was disbanded by the Student Government Association. The Friday, Saturday, Sunday late night route remains intact.
“Ridership has been decreasing steadily over the past few years. This year was our largest drop,” Plumberg said. He added that the bus costs $28,000 to run during that evening route for the week, a number he said is comparable to the full price of the SGA Movie Series, a service Plumberg said serves many more students.
To examine the Happy Bus more closely, a special committee is in the works. “We are putting together a committee to discuss how to increase ridership,” Plumberg said.
The committee will also examine extending the hours from their current times. “We’ve had a number of complaints online, on Twitter…well I wouldn’t call them complaints, I’d call them concerns,” he explained.
SRU Vintage Truth Hotspot and the 19 North- Young Adults Ministry were recognized as official organizations, and Matthew Scott was elected as the Building F Senator.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:01 p.m.
