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Wednesday, September 5, 2018 - Vol. 119 Issue 7
Student Government Association brings in the new academic year By Marc Ramirez news editor
JOSH PURNELL/COURIER STAFF
Speaker of the Senate Aaron Steele (top) and President Grant Reed (bottom) welcome everyone to the 50th legislative session.
The 50th legislative session of the Western Illinois University Student Government Association started back up Tuesday evening. The general assembly began the meeting with two guest speakers, Pedro Bidegaray, Director of Study Abroad and Outreach and Marco Narvaez, McGrawHill Student Ambassador. The three-year director came to discuss the success of the program. He opened the floor to the general assembly to discuss areas of improvement and concerns for the program. Many people recognized that the Office of Study Abroad and Outreach were successful in areas like social media where they actively pushed information to encourage students to consider studying abroad. However, it was brought up by Amber Shupe, newly elected Director of Outreach, that the department should work towards bringing information to students, rather than have them visit the office or website to get details about the program.
Bidegaray unveiled that only about 150 students travel abroad when thousands of students on this campus are able to do so. Narvaez was next to discuss McGraw-Hill as an ambassador. Narvaez mentioned inclusive access through the provider, a concept of bundling of class materials to better help the student navigate through material. He also mentioned that financial aid would immediately be disbursed to paying for the classes, meaning no access codes and instant access. “These tools will help you and is data driven,” Narvaez said. “If you put in the effort, these tools will help you. It molds itself to your learning speeds and learning curves.” Following the guest speakers was roll call where each senator in the room gave a brief explanation of themselves along with the constituents they serve. The purpose of this was to create an environment where everyone can know one another outside of the seat they hold within the Senate. “I feel that us getting to
know each other a little more one on one will also help us become more effective as a team,” Steele said following his introduction. During officer reports Madison Lynn; vice president brought forth a new initiative to Western called the Superhero Blue Light Fun Run/Walk. The purpose of the event is to not only bring awareness to the several safety blue lights located all across campus, but to sexual assault and domestic violence as well. “This year the SGA will be holding an event that’s new to us,” Lynn said. “It’s a costume charity run across all the blue lights on campus. All proceeds will be donated to the WIRC.” Lynn continued by explaining that the event would be a FYE event meaning it would be free to all first year students as long as they register within their UNIV 100 class. If not a first year student, the cost of the event will be $25; similar to most other 5K runs on campus.
SGA
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City Council discuss liquor license and EPA concern By Steven Barnum
assistant news editor
FILE PHOTO
Mayor Mike Inman discussed EPA concerns and talks about the possible liquor license distribution to El Jarochito.
The Macomb City Council has agreed to approve an engineering agreement for a new CO2 system at the town’s water treatment plant. Discussed in-depth during last week’s meeting, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a violation notice to the city of Macomb due to high levels of pH and chlorine within the town’s water. Scott Coker, Public Works Director, spoke about installing a new and more efficient system in order to prevent the problem from occurring again. Given that the council already planned on installing a
new system at a later period of time, this appeared to be an easy decision. Moved by Alderman Tim Koch and seconded by Alderman-at-Large Dennis Moon, the motion will now be adopted. Macomb has until the fall of 2019 to complete construction on the new system, which will also save on costs. El Jarochito, a Mexican restaurant located on Lafayette Street in downtown Macomb, has been waiting on approval for a liquor license. A public hearing for the liquor license was held on Monday, Aug. 20, and the second reading for the approval took place during last night’s meeting. The request is for a Class R plus SS liquor license, which allows res-
taurants to sell liquor both throughout the week and on Sundays. The town notified all property owners within 250 feet of the restaurant’s location and zero concerns were raised. The local police also completed a background check on the primary owner of the restaurant, which City Attorney Kristen Petrie says shouldn’t be a problem. “There has been nothing that has been found that should be an issue for the liquor license,” Petrie said. The motion was moved and seconded, but the council didn’t stray too far away from the topic.
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