SGA passed Res. No. 20, calling for the admittance of pepper spray on APSU’s campus, at the their meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 25
The resolution calls for a letter to be sent to an appropriate Tennessee legislator, following the approval of APSU President Alisa White and APSU’s chief of police.
It is currently illegal to carry pepper spray on university grounds in the state of Tennessee as it is technically considered a weapon and can cause bodily harm. The change would need to be voted on by the Tennessee State Legislature and the change approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) for implementation in the APSU Code of Conduct.
During the association’s previous meeting, various senators such as Sen. Dominic Critchlow emphasized that it was “important to voice support” of the change from SGA and the student body of APSU.
Sen. Ella Weiss authored the resolution, which passed without opposition.
President Ryan Honea said the Pharos Print Center, implemented in 2016, had been successful and proven to be a sustainable system moving forward. Many students worried that the $30 allotted to their account for printing on campus was not enough to meet the demands of their classes. Honea said very few students actually required more than the $30 initially granted.
“6,097 students printed in fall of 2016. Only 75 students went over the $30 allotment,” Honea said.
The 6,097 students used a total of 506,995 sheets of paper. Each student was estimated about 300 sheets of paper.
“The majority of students stayed within the single page printed to $20 area…So Pharos turned out pretty successful in terms of sustainability and saved a lot of people, a lot of money,” Honea said.
Honea also said the number of student applications for SGA’s “The Big Event” were seeing an influx and keeping the application rates of last year. The Big Event is held on March 19, and sees the APSU student body participate in volunteer work for the surrounding area. The outreach event is not based on socioeconomic need and is meant to show gratitude to the Clarksville area for supporting APSU and it’s students.
Secretary Blaine Gundersen shared her report of the most recent meeting of the Sustainable Campus Fee Committee, where Laura Prang proposed bringing B-Cycles to APSU’s campus.
“It kind of works like a RedBox but with bikes…They already have two locations at Liberty and McGregor Parks,” Gundersen said.
Gundersen said that other universities were beginning to implement B-Cycle stations where students can swipe their student ID cards to rent bikes and are charged by the day. The implementation of the B-Cycle program could cost as much as $50,000. The stations are maintained and operated by the City of Clarksville Parks and Recreation Staff.
The SGA Blood Drive will be held Feb. 8-9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in MUC Ballrooms A & B.
SGA meets every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in MUC 307.
