The WCU student government association senate met Thursday, Jan. 31 in the Cardinal room of the UC with the intent to give the student body want they have said they wanted. SGA Vice President Ryan Hermance quickly introduced three resolutions. Two of which are subjects that the student body has high interest in.
Senator Ricky Greene authored resolution 0008, which called for the Senate to express support for the Hunter Library to extend its current hours of operation. According to the background information from the resolution, SGA findings show that many WCU students have “expressed a need for extended operating hours.” Hunter Library is currently open until midnight every night of the week expect for Saturday, when it is open until 7 p.m. During exams the library extends its hours, but students would like to see this year round.
“It would be nice to be able to escape the dorm to study in the library after midnight in the middle of the week; it can get kind of loud in there,” said Adam Pharr, a sophomore living in Albright-Benton Hall.
The resolution passed unanimously and will now be sent to officials from the Hunter Library and the WCU Staff Senate. Vice President Hermance did express however, that if the Library did extend its operating hours for the students, that the SGA would pay to have additional return book drop boxes made on campus. The only current drop box on campus for book returning is currently right in front of the library.
The next resolution, 0012 was also authored by Senator Greene, and was the most discussed topic of the night. The resolution called for the SGA senate to “express support for the Western Carolina University campus radio station to change its genre from Classic Rock to Today’s Current Hits.” Last fall the SGA conducted a survey with members of the student body asking which genre they would like to see WWCU FM Power 90.5 have and Today’s Current Hits was the genre of choice by a majority.
There were members of the Senate who made the argument that they did not even know what channel the campus radio station was because of its small campus fan base. Other Senators made the argument that the radio station reaches thousands of people off campus who listen regularly.
“It’s not that I don’t like Classic Rock, but we don’t really have many options for radio here in Cullowhee, it would be nice to have more current music to listen to on the radio,” Evan Londo, a junior said when asked about the potential change.
The resolution did however pass unanimously; the resolution will now be send to the Communication Department Head Don Connelly. Connelly also serves as faculty manager to WWCU FM Power 90.5. The Senate will also explore other options for who they can get to help them in changing the radio stations genre.
The first resolution of the night, 0011, was authored by freshman brothers Zach and Matt Church. The resolution called for the student government association to “have direct access to a mass email communication system for important information and updates to the student body.” The SGA feels that keeping students involved with the actions of the SGA is important because they are working for the interests of the student body. The resolution passed unanimously and will now be sent to the WCU staff Senate for voting on the matter.
The SGA senate intends to meet every Thursday at 9 p.m. in the Cardinal room and their meetings are open to all students. For more information go to the WCU SGA website. http://www.wcu.edu/12720.asp
