On Wednesday, Oct. 18, the University of Wisconsin La-Crosse Student Association (SA) met with the Director of the Counseling and Testing Center (CTC) Dr. Crystal Champion to discuss Wellness Week and hear feedback on what improvements can be made for Wellness Weeks to come. Later in the meeting, SA swore in two first-year Senators as well as two graduate student Senators.
Dr. Champion visited SA to seek feedback from senators about Wellness Week and potential improvements to the programming and marketing of the weeklong event. Numerous senators provided feedback ranging from suggestions aiming to improve future events to parts of this year’s Wellness Week that have been perceived as a success.
One of the main critiques, voiced by multiple senators, was that support for Wellness Week and mental health resources on campus was unequal amongst professors, with some being strong advocates for it and some disregarding it almost entirely. During this period of feedback Senator Aryelle Moder said, “While we interact with them [professors] the most, it seems that they care the least about mental health.”
Senator Moder was not the only senator who spoke about this. Senator Marlee Simpson said, “Professors are the people who speak about mental health the least on this campus.”
Other senators commended professors for their efforts to support mental health awareness at UWL. Senator Alexis Tate said, “I am in the Rec Department and they [professors] speak a lot about wellness.”
Dr. Champion responded to these concerns. “It can be a real challenge at times to help instructors understand that there is a place for that more human component in the context of their relationship with students,” she said.
Senator Ava Krause gave a suggestion. “We could implement something more passive, like putting something in the Navigate app that sends positive messages for the day,” she said.
Following the feedback portion of the meeting, SA moved on to advisor, committee, and organizational reports, where Director Kyle Burke shared the success of One Day for UWL. “[One Day for UWL] raised over $450,000 from over 1,800 individual gifts,” Burke said. He further explained that the money raised would provide support and scholarships to UWL students.
SA also approved the results of the most recent election, which passed the Green Fund referendum, which can be read about here, and elected four new Senators. Hannah Bauknecht and Emily Anderson were sworn in as the two new first-year student senators and Zachary Scheuller and Michaela Smith were sworn in as the two new graduate student senators.
