Student Government Association Blog

Your Student Body. Your Student Voice. SGA.

SGA Gathers Support for Sustainability Minor

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Missouri State’s Student Government Association has recently adopted a resolution in support of adding a minor in Sustainability to current course offerings.

Support for the minor comes at a time when sustainability-related careers are considered to be a high-growth area, and the addition of a sustainability minor would allow Missouri State to remain competitive with many other universities with similar offerings.

If adopted, the minor would be accessible to students of all majors, and would be made up of different tracks that students could pursue. All students would finish their requirements with a capstone course relating to sustainability.

For more information, please contact Paige Oxendine, Chief Communications Officer, at Oxendine100@live.missouristate.edu.

SGA Asks Administrators to Make Weekend BearLine Route Permanent

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After a successful trial run during the first half of the spring semester, SGA has asked administrators to make the weekend BearLine route permanent.

The Pink Route, which runs to downtown Springfield from 6 pm to 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights, has averaged over 350 riders per weekend with no reported incidents. The shuttle makes stops at Park Central Square, Plaster Student Union, Hammons Student Center, Scholars House, Kentwood Hall, and Greek Row.

SGA’s suggestion comes as a response to the high number of students utilizing the route during the trial run as well as the need for a safe mode of transportation between the downtown area and campus on weekend evenings.

The Pink Route is funded by Residence Life and Services and the Department of Safety and Transportation.

For more information, please contact Paige Oxendine, Chief Communications Officer, at Oxendine100@live.missouristate.edu.

SGA Unanimously Suggests Abolishment of Plus/Minus Grading

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After months of research on behalf of Student Government Association members, a resolution asking for the abolishment of the Plus/Minus grading system was passed with unanimous consent during the February 28, 2012 senate meeting.

Drafted by the Academic Affairs Committee, the resolution draws upon data gathered by Missouri State University in addition to the results of a student poll hosted by SGA. Over 1500 students responded to SGA’s Plus/Minus poll, with the overwhelming majority of students stating that they would favor the removal of the Plus/Minus grading system.

Introduced in the fall of 2009, the Plus/Minus system was aimed primarily at reducing grade inflation. However, data from Office of Institutional Research indicates that implementing the system led to the largest instance of year-to-year inflation of mean undergraduate cumulative GPA in 10 years.

Student Government Association members approved the strongly worded resolution unanimously in hopes of indicating to faculty how strongly the majority of the student body feels in regards to the current system.

The next step for SGA is to present the resolution to Missouri State’s Faculty Senate, where faculty members will have the opportunity to hear from student representatives and provide feedback on the resolution.

For more information, please contact Paige Oxendine, Chief Communications Officer, at Oxendine100@live.missouristate.edu

SGA Moves to Support Global Living Learning Community

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Missouri State University’s Student Government Association voted on February 28, 2012 to support the creation of a Global Living Learning Community (LLC) in the university’s residence halls.

The community, geared towards international students, language students, global studies students, or students that either have or are interested in studying away would join the ranks of other interest-specific LLCs already in existence at Missouri State.

The creation of a Global Living Learning Community, spearheaded by Kristina Moller, would not only support the cultural competence pillar of Missouri State’s public affairs mission, but would also allow Missouri State to join the 7 benchmark institutions that currently have Global Living Learning Communities in place.

For more information, please contact Paige Oxendine, Chief Communications Officer, at Oxendine100@live.missouristate.edu.

SGA Places Health Fee Increase on Spring Ballot

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Missouri State’s Student Government Association recently approved a resolution which will place a referendum on the spring ballot asking students whether or not they support increasing the Taylor Health Center Fee by $2.

Despite health care services costs increasing at an average rate of 10% per year, the Taylor Health Center Fee has not increased for the last four years.

If passed by students, the Taylor Health Center Fee would increase from $56.50 per semester to $58.50 per semester. The increase would be split with $1 going toward maintaining current Taylor Health and Wellness services, and the other $1 would be used to offer free flu shots to approximately 5,000 students.

The referendum will be placed on the spring ballot, which will be available to students for online voting April 9th through April 11th.

For more information, please contact Paige Oxendine, Chief Communications Officer, at Oxendine100@live.missouristate.edu.