The agenda for the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting on March 21 included a guest speaker who spoke about the Red Cross' blood drive, a funding request from the Nepalese Student Association and plans for potential increases to all wages across campus.

Guest speaker Michelle Johnson attended the SGA meeting to deliver an announcement from the American Red Cross. Johnson said across the United States, blood is becoming much harder to come by. Johnson said the Red Cross has been on a statewide emergency appeal for regular blood type and platelet donation since June 2021 and asked any person who can donate to do so.

“We have blood types that we have less than a day [available to use as] the hospital needs. We recently, in February, went on what we call the national blood crisis appeal. Every single blood type had less than a day’s [worth of blood needed] on the shelf,” Johnson said.

The COVID-19 virus has been one of the major factors in this decline in blood donations. Johnson said a large portion of their donors are high school and college students, and with COVID-19, the Red Cross was not able to go in-person to set up drives. However, now that restrictions are lifting, the organization is able to host blood and platelet drives again.

The Red Cross will host a Semo Spring Blood Drive from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. from March 27 to 30 in the Recreation Center.

The next item on the agenda was the funding request from the Nepalese Student Association. While the students from the Nepalese Student Association were unable to make it to the meeting, Student Government was given the budget to vote on. The request was for $1,700, and it was requested after the association held multiple fundraisers. Student government treasurer Sophie Machen broke down the request.

“Their event is April 2, and they have estimated 400 students in attendance, taken from the year before. The request is to help cover their catering, but not all of it,” Machen said.

In the past, the event has included a wide array of activities to participate, such as dancing and food, and this year is slated to be no different. After deliberation, SGA moved to approve the request for the entire amount of $1,700.

The last point of discussion was the wages of students and faculty on campus. Student Government parliamentarian Luke Collins said wages for students and faculty have been low across campus, but there is a potential increase being discussed by both the faculty and student boards. Collins spoke about the new initiative, including experiential learning and pay increases.

“Everybody wants to raise the wages that are paid to student employees. [Missouri State University] is looking to go to $15 an hour, and we’re looking into it [for SEMO],” Collins said.

Student Government President Layla Bouzihay brought up some of the steps being taken as part of this initiative. Bouzihay said low faculty wages and retention rates of professors appear to be the top priority ahead of student worker wages.

However, the initiative still aims to raise student worker wages and allow for students to earn class credit through their work on campus through experiential learning, including places like the Rec Center. The plan is still in its initial stages but is gaining momentum from both the Faculty and Student Boards.

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