The Missouri Students Association learned of faculty ideas for student involvement and well being, along with conducting other affairs at Tuesday’s full senate meeting.
The Missouri Students Association held a full senate meeting in the Leadership Auditorium on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. The senate first called two speakers to talk about resources available to students regarding improving physical and mental health, before the senate voted on a new academic chair and bill. The meeting also included a message from the International Black Sea University to spread awareness for the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Speaker of the Senate Danny Daugherty announced the first speaker, Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Dr. Angela King Taylor. Dr. King Taylor’s main goals as the vice chancellor are to help students with success and retain them to the University of Missouri.
“If our students feel connected, as if they’re part of a community, they are more likely to stay,” Dr. King Taylor said.
Dr. King Taylor assured the senators that she is working to make sure every MU staff member is equipped with resources to help students. Secondly, she sent out a student check-in survey that was answered by around 25% of students it was sent to. Out of the 1,600 students who filled out the survey, 671 of them reported at least one concern.
The top four concerns Dr. King Taylor found were class attendance, financial support, homesickness and involvement. Dr. King Taylor has already taken strides to improve these concerns by implementing activities during summer welcome and welcome week to get incoming students connected to their community. She also plans to improve student well-being by implementing an anonymous survey meant to get help for students in need, as well as providing university staff members who specialize in involvement with further training.
The second speaker that Daughtery called was the Interim Dean of Students Dr. Michelle Froese. In her time at MU, she has been working to hire a staff dedicated to student help resources such as home conflicts, grades and involvement. She has already reinstated recycling at home football games, MU alternative breaks and hired both a basic needs and first gen coordinator. University alternative breaks are service-based weekend trips to smaller Missouri counties, where students are offered the opportunity to help the Missouri community.
Dr. Froese has also implemented a care team, designed to allocate guidance and financial resources to students. She states the care team’s mission statement is to “look at the resources that are available to [students] here on campus as well as in the community.”
After the special orders, the senate confirmed new Academic Affairs Chair Maddy Jensen by a vote of 31-0-0. Prior to her approval, Jensen voiced her desire for academic senators to be more involved in the distinct college that they represent. She also wants to get more information out about academic resources on campus such as the Writing Center and Student Success Center. She plans to do this by educating willing and available students who could then spread the word to their peers.
“Students are more receptive to other students’ words,” Jensen said.
Finally, Jensen vocalized her ambition to compile resources for pre-law students, due to the lack of a pre-law advisor.
Following the new positional confirmations to the senate, Daughtery opened the senate floor up to an open forum, where External Affairs Chair Trey Trapani read a message from the International Black Sea University. Trapani was asked to read this message in an effort to raise awareness of the conflict happening in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Trapani reads that the Nagorno-Karabakh situation is one of the “most complex conflicts in the region” and “for 30 years Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh … were fighting for recognition of the international community.” Now, “in the second Nagorno-Karabakh war, of 2020, Azerbaijan with the support of Russia took hostage over Nagorno-Karabakh which created about 90,000 refugees.” As a result, “to protect the indigenous population from a second Armenian genocide, the Armenian government had to concede to [Azerbaijan].”
Trapani also proposed Senate Bill 63-02, which would recognize Oct. 30 as vice president day. He proposed Oct. 30 because the first Vice President, John Adams, was born on that day. Trapani proposed this bill to celebrate the hard work that vice presidents have done throughout history. The bill passed with a vote of 24-1-9.
The next full senate meeting will be held in the Leadership Auditorium from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 10.
Note: this article was updated on Oct. 8, 2023 to correct a copy error.
Edited by Sam Barrett | sbarrett@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight and Evan Rainville | gknight@themaneater.com
Edited by Sophie Rentschler | srentschler@themaneater.com