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SGA tackles fees,
Greek life
By Stephanie Orr
The Student Government
Association tackled issues relating to fees and Greek life at
its meeting Sunday.
Brianna Hudkins, secretary of the SGA, brought
the group’s attention to the fact that several Lincoln Land
Community College students live in UIS housing and may be
participating in activities sponsored and paid for by the
Student Activities Committee.
The problem, Hudkins said, is
that these LLCC students do not pay the student activity fee
that funds SAC.
There are approximately 50 LLCC
students living on campus, according to Dr. Christopher Miller,
vice chancellor for student affairs. These students are required
to pay a fee to use UIS Health Services and the student
recreation center, but they are not currently required to pay
for SAC events.
SAC funds events like the UIS
foreign and independent films series and homecoming. The
funding for these events comes from the activities fee each UIS
student pays along with their tuition.
According to Hudkins, the LLCC
students who live on campus were told by the UIS Housing
department that they would experience student life while living
on campus. However, Hudkins said there could potentially be an
issue with the LLCC students participating in events they did
not help fund.
Miller responded to Hudkins. “I
think that is a valid concern,” Miller said. “Any recommendation
his body has to remediate the situation would be welcome.”
Andrew Hollingsead, student
representative to the Board of Trustees, suggested that the LLCC
students be charged a different housing rate in the future to
even out the situation. This suggestion met with general
acceptance, and the SGA plans to pass a resolution regarding the
issue at a future meeting.
Another issue the SGA focused on
was the prospect of bringing social Greek organizations to UIS.
Saira Malik, representative from
business and management, opened the discussion. Malik said she
felt that bringing sororities and fraternities to campus would
further separate the Capital Scholars from the non-traditional
students on campus.
LaTrice Nettles, representative
at large, agreed. “It’ll bring more baggage to the college than
we have now,” Nettles said.
Dan Kovats, sergeant at arms,
weighed in and said he didn’t feel the SGA should hinder any
group that would come to campus, but because the campus was
already segregated Greek life might make it worse.
Hudkins said that any social
Greek organization would be geared toward the Capital Scholars
and not transfer students. She too expressed concern that Greek
life would serve more to divide the campus than anything else.
Jason Kennedy, treasurer, said he
would like to see a committee formed to produce a report by the
end of the year to research the positive and negative sides of
social Greek organizations.
Miller approved of Kennedy’s
idea. He said there have been numerous inquires from on and off
campus about what UIS is doing about Greek life, and that UIS
was going to continue to change.
Tyson Roan, president, said that
is UIS was going to bring social organizations to campus there
needed to be an infrastructure in place to deal with it. Roan
said now was the time to be thinking about the changes that
would be necessary.
Roan noted that statistics have
shown colleges with social Greek organizations have higher
occurrences of sexual assault and binge drinking. He said that
UIS wants to avoid these problems and needs to be careful when
moving forward with this discussion.
Roan also made the distinction
between social Greek organizations and Greek honor societies. He
said Honor societies already exist on campus, and are generally
welcomed.
The SGA decided to create an
informal group to discuss the issue further. Any student who
wishes to be part of the discussion is welcome to join by
contacting UIS SGA.
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