By By: CHRISTINA CLARK, HENRY FREESE
Editor-in-Chief, Staff Writer
The Student Government Association (SGA) at IU South Bend held its second weekly meeting of the month on Feb. 8.
New business during the meeting included a discussion on campus safety. The heart of the discussion was about calling for campus, police escorts.
On Wednesday, Feb. 6, following the report of a robbery suspect armed with a knife was reported on campus, Senator Kayla Isenbletter called for a police escort.
The warning was quickly cancelled after the first notification was sent to students.
“The person I was on the phone with said that the danger was no longer imminent, but they were still investigating, but everything should be fine, and then asked if I still wanted an escort,” explained Isnebletter.
The discussion focused on the issue of police escorts and campus safety. President Kevin Schascheck asked if they should write a letter to IU South Bend Police Department.
Dispatch for the IU South Bend Police Department operates out of Bloomington.
“We’re still working through the problem and have talked about sitting down with campus police to discuss police escorts and safety in general,” said Isenbletter.
Kathleen Pizana, IU South Bend’s Director of Fiscal Affairs, gave a presentation at the meeting on the purpose of the Student Activity Fee (SAF), a fee which is collected from every student on campus when paying their tuition.
“The Student Activity Fee, or SAF, supports campus organizations that benefit all students,” said Kathleen Pizana.
She would go on to add what role that the SGA plays in the Student Activity Fee is that “the student government is elected by the student body to support them in their interests and activities on campus, and part of that is providing funding for efforts that affect their educational experiences. This makes them the perfect group to determine the best use of the student activity fees that are collected from all students,” said Pizana.
Pizana explained that the role of SGA to review funding requests and discuss the factors in its use and allocation is integral to the process.
“They [SGA] allocate the funds into basic levels. The first level is an allocation of funds determined for request made during creation of the campus budget. The SGA process starts with reviewing budget or funding requests, generally submitted by departments that serve the students. The second level of allocation is from funds they hold in a dedicated account on campus that allows them to consider special requests that come during the year,” concluded Pizana.
Several funding requests were made. The History Club’s request was funded for $2500 for a club trip over spring break. The meeting concluded with the setting of goals by the SGA.
