State of SGA, new resolutions and textbook access on the agenda at recent senate meeting – The Cauldron
At its recent senate meeting on Feb. 9, the CSU Student Government Association (SGA) continued its work on new resolutions and potential textbook purchasing changes for the University after the State of SGA address earlier in the week.
State of SGA Address
On Tuesday, Feb. 6, SGA President Kayland Morris delivered the State of SGA speech, celebrating achievements such as:
- The Public Relations Committee’s work on the new SGA website
- Director of Governmental Relations Jackson Kidwell and the Public Policy Committee’s work on the passed ceasefire resolution
- Washkewicz College of Engineering Senator Zaeem Aamir’s initiative to introduce halal food options in the cafeteria
Also during the address, Morris praised Hunt’s efforts, citing a 770% increase in student participation from spring 2023 to February 2024 and a 50% increase in student participation at senate meetings.
Morris also applauded the previously passed Wi-Fi resolution from last fall as an accomplishment of Honors College Senator Jack Whitman and the Public Policy Committee.
President Updates
During the senate meeting, Morris gave notice of an upcoming meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 14 with the CSU Division of Hospitality which supports twelve departments, including Residence Life and Housing. The meeting is open to students and SGA members to discuss improvements that can be made for next year.
Also underway for SGA is the hygiene drive which is gathering items for Lift Up Vikes!, a place where students have free access to basic food and hygiene necessities. Every person who donates to the box in the SGA office gets entered in a raffle to win AirPods.
Director Updates
Director of Marketing and Technologies Anastasia Hunt announced that the SGA marketing newsletter will begin again at the end of February, which is also when the new SGA website will be posted.
Continuing his work on formalizing onboarding for new SGA members, Director of Internal Records Arjun Khanna is drafting a resolution that will require current members to complete a form which will go towards end of the year reports. The form will then showcase accomplishments, address shortcomings and provide advice for new SGA members.
Khanna plans for the resolution to be voted on at the next senate meeting.
Director of Student Affairs Justin Samsa is working to boost Cleveland State’s voter turnout rate by partnering with the Office of Civic Engagement and creating reels to promote voter turnout for the upcoming presidential primary election on March 19.
Samsa also shared an update on behalf of Chief of Staff Adam Royko who is continuing to revise verbage to clear up misinterpretations in SGA bylaws and the chief of staff position description. Royko is also drafting a resolution to create the senate parliamentary position.
Senator Updates
Whitman is also drafting a resolution, this one on adopting a “unified brand” for SGA. The brand guidelines include logos, color palates and fonts. Having passed in committee, the resolution will likely be voted on at the next senate meeting.
Whitman also gave an update on the passed Wi-Fi resolution. Since its passage, CSU has increased bandwidth on days during which the Wi-Fi would typically overload and has begun a survey of access points around campus to ensure the hardware is up-to-date.
Senator of The Edge Joseph Nappi noted the same general issues that persist at The Edge, including maintenance requests not being filled and package thefts. Nappi is drafting a resolution regarding the package theft.
Textbooks
Hannah Pearson and Mandi Goodsett of the Library Open Access and Affordability Committee visited the senate meeting as guest speakers, bringing news of the University’s potential plan to change textbook purchasing policies, being implemented as soon as 2024.
The new program, called Follett Access, would require all students to pay the same fee to receive access to most of their course materials for the semester–not all materials are included in the program.
Follett Access could benefit students paying high textbook prices, though students who find other sources for their textbooks could end up paying more.
Currently, some professors already utilize a similar process which creates a textbook access fee in students’ CampusNet accounts. The bulk class-order of textbooks from a publisher creates a lower textbook charge for students. This process would be eliminated with the mandated textbook fee for all classes, though it follows the same model of bulk-order allowing for a lower cost.
CSU’s library already has online and print reserves of some course textbooks. The new program would also eliminate the need for these reserves.
Currently, the library estimates that it covers about 25% of what the bookstore requires students to buy. In spring 2024, the library has thus far provided 102 online textbooks, 137 print textbooks and 138 checkouts for students.
There are many textbook purchasing options currently available to students to choose from, but the campus adoption of this policy would give all of CSU students’ textbook purchasing business directly to Follett.
The program also reduces incentive for faculty to choose low cost or free materials.
Students can give their feedback through a form SGA has created.
SGA applications for the 2024-2025 academic year are now open. Positions are no longer being filled by appointment; all are welcome to attend information sessions and apply.