SGA Takes Roots: The Path to Branching Out

President Wang has been working collaboratively with the Legislative Branch in outreach of Agencies and RSOs alike. Additionally, she has been attending meetings with the administration to discuss various areas of student concerns.

The Strategic Planning Committee has also announced that they are reimagining Wichita State’s Strategic Plan to refine the values into one set of guiding principles that will serves as the foundation for the decisions, priorities, and culture of WSU. They would love to hear from students. You can provide feedback here:

If you are interested in serving in any of these roles, please reach out to sga.vice.president@wichita.edu.

Vice President Nguyen has been working on finalizing Finance Commission Interviews for the rest of the academic year. She will also be taking on the responsibilities for Freshman Leadership Council. In addition, she is working to appoint individuals  on the Health Committee, Outreach Committee, and Student Organizations Council.

If you have any questions, please contact Student Body Treasurer Bumm at sgatreasurer@wichita.edu.

Appropriations presentations and deliberations ended on Sunday, August 20^th. The recommendations of the Finance Commission was sent to the Senate on Wednesday, August 27^th. This year, Finance Commission awarded $300,000 to more than 80 student organizations this year. Thank you to all of the organizations that took the time to present. Your dedication to the students is what allows communities at WSU to continue to thrive.

Additionally, Individual and Organizational Funding are now open! These funding processes are an opportunity for students and student groups to attend conferences, obtain funding for programming, and more. Please make sure to read through the policies thoroughly at the end of your application.

Chief Fritz has been working on ensuring that all documents and bills are filed within the Senate and the Executive Branch. In addition, she is working on meeting minutes from the Appropriations process.

Director Arens has been hard at work ensuring that collaboration between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch remains strong. She has been working closely with Speaker Phan to create policies surrounding the Community Garden.

Additionally, she is starting a project to track local, regional, state, and national legislation to ensure that SGA and the students are fully informed of potential changes that may impact them.

Director Xiong is continuing to collaborate with members between the three branches to push out graphics in various areas as well as continuing on with the newsletter. She has also been in attendance at multiple events to capture SGA’s involvements and outreach.

Director Gracia-Alvarez has finalized SGA Week. Please come and join Student Government Association in activities, free food/drinks, and more. Events will be held from September 8^th-12^th. Check out the SGA Instagram at wichitastatesga for more details!

Director Raju has continued to refill the Menstrual Products throughout the campus. She is continuing to work on initiatives related to health and prevention for the upcoming fall/winter season.

Director Khan is working on compiling a document of all RSOs on campus to begin outreach. Additionally, he is collaborating with multiple other Directors to plan other outreach initiatives specific to their role.

Director Safdar is working on transitioning into his role. In the meantime, he is following up on conversations with International Student Union as well as the International Education Office.

Director Murphy is working with the Athletics Marketing Team to find a way to make games more accessible to students in order to increase attendance. The schedule for all sports are available at goshockers.com. Students at WSU are able to get free tickets throughout locations on campus. The information for where to grab the tickets are also available at goshockers.com.

Director Olalde-Taylor is working on sustainability initiatives throughout campus. She is planning to reach out to different departments throughout campus to discuss how they can be more sustainable. Additionally, she has been taking care of the Community Garden in order to help supplement the produce within the Shocker Support Locker.

Director Guthrie has been presenting to students throughout the different housing complexes on campus. The feedback from students have been positive so far. He is planning to do an open informational and soft skills workshop next.

Advocate Island has been overseeing 7 active cases. In addition, they have been reaching out to faculty, staff, and students to organize the Accessibility and Disability Pride Task Force.

SB-68-014: This Act finalizes the ADHD, Autism, or Learning Disability Support Fund which provides students with one-time scholarships to receive ADHD, autism, and learning disabilitydiagnosis testing. This fund may be accessed through the WSU Psychology Clinic, which provides psychological care for the University and the greater Wichita community. The Act was passed by a vote of 11-0-0.

SB-68-015: This Act provides Student Health Services with funds to cover the FY25 budget shortfall. The Association approved a transfer of $75,000 from the Student Fee Reserves to Student Health Services. While most student fee entities had secondary funding to address the gap, Student Health Services did not. This funding is necessary for Student Health Services to continue to provide care for Wichita State students. The Act was passed by a vote of 11-0-0.

The Government Oversight Committee remains committed to reviewing, updating, and clarifying the policies that guide our student government—ensuring structure, compliance, and support for all members of SGA. If you have any questions, please contact ChairpersonTiwana at sga.govoversight@wichita.edu.

Chairperson Tiwana reached out to all members of the Government Oversight Committee and will be setting up 1:1 meetings with each of them. These meetings will help ensure alignment within the committee and gather input as the committee moves forward with their key initiatives. Additionally, he will be conducting interviews to consider candidates for the Senate Pro-Temp position.

Chairperson Tiwana collaborated closely with Speaker Phan, Chairperson Peng, Director Arens, and Advisor Nolen to review the bylaws of all SGA agencies. Through this detailed process, they were able to identify the majority of gaps, outdated sections, and inconsistencies across the documents. Now, they will now be adding comments and suggestions to each set of bylaws and will engage directly with agency leadership to help them recognize these issues and bring their governing documents up to date and into compliance with the SGA Constitution.

The SGA Bylaws currently lack any formal language outlining the appointment process and responsibilities of the Senate Pro-Temp. Chairperson Tiwana will be working with Speaker Phan to draft and introduce new language to address this gap and ensure that this important leadership role is clearly defined within the governing documents.

Chairperson Tiwana will also be working alongside Speaker Phan to finalize the development of SGA guides and workshops aimed at supporting new and returning senators. These resources will include: a Senator transition guide, a guide on how to write legislation, tabling best practices, and a resource on how to engage with university leadership, faculty, and staff. These materials are designed to improve onboarding, enhance participation, and strengthen the overall effectiveness of our Senate body.

If any students have thoughts or concerns regarding services on campus, please do not hesitate to reach out to Chairperson Hansen at sga.studentservices@wichita.edu.

Over the past couple of weeks, Chairperson Hansen has had the opportunity to meet with almost every senator on the Student Services Committee. Additionally, the Legislative Council passed the amendments Senator Izard, Director Raju, and Chairperson Hansen created for the bylaws pertaining to the ADHD, Autism, and Learning Disability Fund.

Chairperson Hansen has spent most of her time reviewing department pages and bylaws and taking notes on possible initiatives for this session. Her goal for this Session is to improve communication and understanding between campus services and students.

If you have any questions, please contact Chairperson Pengat sga.diversity@wichita.edu.

The Diversity, Empowerment, and Inclusion Committee met with three out of the five agencies assigned to the committee and is still in the process of scheduling more one-on-one meetings with the other agencies as well. Within the agencies, Chairperson Tiwana, Speaker Phan, Director Arens, and Chairperson Peng have been going over agencies’ bylaws to make recommendations to the agencies to better serve the students.

Additionally, she is finalizing her recommendations and meetings with senators and agencies. Chairperson Peng is still in the process of scheduling one-on-ones with the senators within her committee and hopes to meet with remaining senators soon.

With the start of classes, she would like to be finished with everything and be organized by the first committee meeting on August 20th. 

If you have any questions, please contact Chairperson Kasirosafar at sga.academics@wichita.edu.

This Session, Chairperson Kasirosafar has begun the process of selecting her Pro-Temp by scheduling interviews this week. She is also conducting one-on-one meetings with senators within the committee to build connections, learn more about their concerns and ideas, and begin brainstorming potential goals and initiatives that can be delegated and developed throughout the semester.

Additionally, Chairperson Kasirosafar is in the process of scheduling a meeting with Dr. Brett Bruner, the Assistant Vice President of Student Success and Persistence. She also had ameeting with the SGA Advisor, Lauren Madison, on August 11th to discuss priorities and action plan for this Session.

Chairperson Kasirosafar is also currently researching the plus or minus systems at other Kansas Board of Regents Institutions in preparation for some discussions this year. She is excited to collaborate with her committee members and campus partners to ensure we address student needs effectively and work toward impactful outcomes.