WSG fills open seats for spring

Nicole Aimone, Assistant News Editor

Whitewater Student Government (WSG) is looking to fill their executive board and senate seats in order to work at full capacity and accomplish set goals for the spring 2017 semester.

WSG is expected to fill three positions including Sustainability Director, Academic Affairs Director and Intergovernmental Affairs Director.

Two of the four available off-campus senate seats were filled at a meeting on Jan. 30 by junior Alexandra Rupnow and junior Adam Gentle. There are still two Drumlin seats to be filled.

“We will be pushing for that at the involvement fair trying to get senators to come in and fill those spots so that we can operate at our full capacity,” WSG President Kane Poad said.

Another focus for WSG will be re-structuring the government’s standing rules and the roles of directors to better fit campus needs.

“Because campuses are always changing, we want to make sure that our positions are changing along with the campus,” Poad said. “So we really sat down and looked at what this campus needs and decided to realign those positions better with what campus is asking.”

Vice President Thomas Kind said sustainability is one position that is still changing but will be focusing on the bike share program this spring.

“It still has the bikeshare as part of its current requirements but the system is not where it should be,” said Kind. “And so this spring the main focus of our next Sustainability Director will be completely re-doing the bikeshare program so that it runs smoothly.”

From listening to the feedback of students and having safety as a big priority, WSG also will be creating a new position, a Safety Director.

The position is stemmed from the already existing Student Affairs Director. The purpose of creating a Safety Director is to have the ability for one person to focus on safety needs on campus, so they are more attentively met. Kind noted that the new addition may not be permanent but it fills a current need on campus.

The senate will vote to approve the position at their next meeting on Monday Feb. 6.

At the Jan. 30 meeting WSG also voted to approve the Resolution to Oppose Sexual Assault, which asserts WSG’s stance against sexual assault, and the continues their It’s On Us campaign to prevent sexual assault on campus. The resolution also calls on University Administration to continue working on the issue.

WSG will also be holding many of their traditional events like the eco-fair, safety walk and the re-launching of the bike share program. They may also push for another, ‘It’s On Us’ campaign, that has been very popular in
the past.