Tunnels and student funding were on the agenda at the Student Government Association meeting Monday, March 4.

Guest speaker Kathy Mangels began the meeting presenting student information about the tunnels on campus.

An assessment has been done on the tunnels to see what condition they are in and what repairs need to be done.

Mangels gave this information to SGA because she wanted the student body to understand needs on campus that must be addressed in the university budget.

“We talk a lot about tuition and operating budgets like Cheney (Hall), but there is other infrastructure that you do not see going on, and the tunnels is one of them,” Mangels said.

Mangels said there are 66 individual tunnels, running for about 2 miles below campus and 55 out of the 66 were in a study by engineers.

Mangels said 11 tunnels were not assessed due to lack of access.

Mangels talked about the tunnels in need of the most repairing, noting the project could take five to seven years.

“When we look at these structures some of the common things that are going on is water and pultartion,” Mangels said.

She said there are many places where cracks in the concrete are allowing water to seep in and damage insulation around utility pipes.

Mangels showed SGA members pictures of tunnels that need the most work. She referred Tunnel 51-55 as needing the most work. Construction on this tunnel will take an entire semester of the academic year. Mangels said they are trying to figure out if they will begin construction in the spring or fall semester.

SGA members went onto grant funding for the Cyber Defense Club and the Literati.

The Cyber Defense Club was denied funding last week due to error in the money request. This week they came back and were granted $1,220 for lodging.

Literati was granted $500 for printing. Literati is a student-edited journal of literary criticism published annually. The approved money will go toward the 2019 journal.

United States Institute of Theatre Technology and Psychology were approved funds for lodging at their upcoming conventions. The United Institute of Theatre Technology has $1,620 for lodging and Psychology has $2,232.

SGA also approved $115,000 for their FY20 budget. This will be applied to the 2019 fall semester.