On Wednesday, March 6, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Student Association (SA) passed a resolution that was discussed in last week’s meeting regarding the term ‘Student Hours’ and discussed a new resolutions.

The meeting began with SA President Grant Mathu who discussed the SA presidential and vice-presidential nomination applications that were sent out to UWL students. Presidential and vice-presidential nominations are due on Friday, March 10, at 4:00 p.m. Mathu also spoke about SA senatorial nomination applications, due Friday, March 24, at 4:00 p.m.

During organizational reports, Hmong Organization Promoting Education (HOPE) Senator Evelyn Her brought attention to a boba fundraiser hosted by HOPE on March 30 in Centennial Hall – Hall of Nations.

During advisement reports, Director Kyle Burke said, “UWL has partnered with YOU at College to offer a unique and free web portal dedicated to student health, happiness, and success.” Burke said students will receive an email on March 20, but are able to set up an account in advance. The website to do so is You.uwlax.edu.

Director Burke also mentioned the free STI clinic offering free STI testing for UWL and Western Tech students on March 30 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Student Health Center.

The passed resolution was to recommend that Faculty Senate encourages instructors to use the term ‘Student Hours’ instead of ‘Office Hours.’ According to the resolution, “The term office hours feel instructor-focused rather than student-focused and can be misleading, especially for first-generation students.” This resolution was passed unanimously.

Discussion on the resolution recommending the creation and implementation of a “Civic and Community Engagement” requirement in the general education curriculum took place.

SA President Mathu said, “Our justification for writing [the resolution] is because as our program coordinator said at the last meeting, within the administration is some interest in doing something like this.” He continued, “This [having a Civic and Community Engagement general education requirement] could be seen as a good non-partisan way to teach people about the government when they do not receive a lot of that information in traditional education.”

College of Social Science and Humanities (CASSH) Senator Casey Christ and one of the authors of the resolution said, “It is kind of alarming that usually, the only people in the room who are aware of that kind of thing [rights and civil liberties] are those who are studying political science and legal studies.” She continued, “If you don’t know the aspects of the first amendment, you need to take a legal studies class.”

College of Science and Health (CSH) Senator Paige Vang said, “I agree that we need to have something about civic engagement and community engagement. But I would just like to see something in the resolution that it should also be culturally competent. Civic engagement is built on getting people involved in government. The government was not built for everyone, or with everyone in mind.”

During announcements, Director Lopez-Johnson explained that a mini-grant will be going towards updating the food pantry. “There will be sustainable period products, as well as bamboo toothbrushes, liquid laundry pods, dryer balls, and reusable produce bags… and it’s all going to be free,” she said.