SGA updated on tampon initiative, Stamp Out Aggression campaign Feb. 4
Students sit in the Bovee University Center Auditorium at the Student Government Association meeting Feb. 4.
Central Michigan University Student Government Association met for the second time of the semester Feb. 4 after canceling the previous meeting due to inclement weather.
The meeting covered some routine SGA business such as committee developments, but also gave updates on current projects.
Senate Leader Caroline Murray took the stage during the General Board meeting with an update on the “Stamp Out Aggression” campaign, an initiative designed to educate students about sexual aggression and promote available resources on campus.
“Resources don’t work if you don’t know about them, so our goal is to make sure students know about them,” Murray said.
Student Government Association meets at 7 p.m. Mondays in the Bovee University Center Auditorium. Meetings are free to attend, but students must bring their CMU Global ID cards to check in prior to entering.
As part of Stamp Out Aggression, SGA launched a social media campaign in December and held a bystander workshop Jan. 29. Feedback received from the workshop will be taken to the Title IX Advisory Board, Rose said.
Now, SGA will be tabling around campus throughout February to gather signatures from students and faculty to pledge against sexual aggression.
“What we’re trying to do with the signatures is show that students, faculty and staff are aware of (sexual aggression), they care and they’re willing to take a stand against it,” Murray said. “The more signatures we have, the more voices we have and the louder we can be.”
Originally, the goal was to collect 500 signatures, but after two days of tabling, SGA has received more than 200 signatures.
“I would be very proud of our organization if we hit a thousand,” Murray said. “Our goal as of right now officially in the books is to hit 500. However, I think we could do it by the end of this week.”
During the meeting, Rose also addressed the ongoing "Menstrual Hygiene Product Initiative." Last September, SGA began a trial-run that involved supplying free tampons in four restrooms on CMU's campus for the 2018-19 academic school year.
The four restrooms were in the Bovee University Center, the Student Activities Center, Charles V. Park Library and the Student Government Association office, but since a tampon dispenser went missing in the library, that bathroom stopped being restocked.
“We did not have any (tampons) leftover for a good couple of weeks until the incident where one of (the dispensers) went missing, which we still haven’t found,” Rose said. “To our advantage, that ended up working out better than I thought because we’re able to better figure out how many tampons are being used and we would have run out (of tampons otherwise).”
Rose estimates that 85 percent of the tampons will likely be used by the end of the year.
SGA constitution and bylaw changes
The SGA House and Senate approved all SGA Constitution and Bylaw changes proposed by the Bylaws Committee, which will go into effect immediately.
These changes include updating the inclusion statement, the dissolution of a few SGA positions, name changes and GPA requirements for the president, vice president and graduate student members.
“We brought (the GPA for president and vice president) to 2.75 to be consistent with other leadership positions on campus,” President Jake Hendricks said. “The GPA was also way higher for graduate students, and we updated the discrimination policy.”
The discrimination policy in the SGA Constitution now reads, "Membership in SGA shall not be based on age, body type, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, familial status, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sex, sex-based stereotypes, transgender status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, veteran status or weight."
