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Sophomore Andi Dahmer of Louisville, has been a member of the Student Government Association since the first semester of her freshman year and is now runBROOK JOYNER/HERALD ning for SGA president.
Kenan Mujkanovic, a freshman from Bowling Green, said he believes his past efforts in the community make him qualified for the office of Student Government Association President. BROOK JOYNER/HERALD
Lily Nellans, a junior from Des Moines, Iowa, ran for Student Government Association President because she thought someone needed to listen to people whose voices aren’t usually heard. BROOK JOYNER/HERALD
Voices Heard SGA candidates debate and discuss platforms at Herald Town Hall
BY MONICA KAST HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
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tudent Government Association executive candidates debated and discussed platforms on Tuesday night at the second annual Herald Town Hall, hosted by the College Heights Herald. Presidential candidates Andi Dahmer, Kenan Mujkanovic and Lily Nellans were present to debate as well as executive vice presidential candidates Savannah Molyneaux and Brian Anderson. Dahmer is running with Molyneaux on the same ticket, and Nellans is running with Anderson on
the same ticket. However, students voting in the election are able to vote for candidates separately. Students can vote on TopNet April 17 and 18, and the winners will be announced after midnight on April 19 in the SGA chambers. A full video of the debate is available on the Herald’s Facebook page. Andi Dahmer and Savannah Molyneaux Molyneaux began the debate by saying she and Dahmer felt the most important issue facing the student body at WKU was retention. “While we do want to bring more
students to WKU through recruitment efforts, we believe that WKU has been very successful in their recruitment efforts,” Molyneaux said. “And we hope to instead focus on retention, keeping those students that we bring here, here during the duration of their experience.” Dahmer said she and Molyneaux wanted students to know about their “dependability.” “We’re willing to undergo a large transition in the coming year from Dr. Ransdell’s presidency to Dr. Caboni’s,” Dahmer said. “And I think that based on our service in SGA for the past four semesters, we deeply understand what the senate has done, how sen-
ate works with [executive branch], and the Judicial Council.” Dahmer also mentioned working with the Kentucky Board of Student Body Presidents and the Board of Regents as something she was prepared to do. A question from Twitter asked the candidates how they planned to work with the Board of Regents, while making sure to still represent the student body. Dahmer said she and Molyneaux would “listen to the student voice” and promote an “atmosphere of collaboration.” “We need to approach the Board
SEE TOWN HALL PAGE A2
University approves funding for new advising positions BY EMILY DELETTER HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU President Gary Ransdell has approved five new positions to aid students trying to change a major, minor or area of concentration. These senior adviser positions, which will begin the hiring process within the next few weeks, will work with transitions between colleges within WKU. Ransdell approved the positions to begin receiving funding July 1, at the end of this fiscal year. Christopher Jensen, director of academic advising and retention, said he hopes these new positions, in ad-
dition to the new Schedule Planning software implemented April 5, will help prepare students to graduate on time. Jensen estimated there is an average of 15,000 changes of major, minor and concentration forms each year. “We want to make sure students have the resources to make the right decision about where they want to go professionally and personally, along with staying on track and graduating on time,” Jensen said. Jennifer Markin, associate director of advising, said the new positions will have an academic area of focus. “You may have a student who’s interested in marketing and advertis-
ing, for example, and those cross two different colleges,” Markin said. “An adviser who has knowledge outside of the college for both programs can be really helpful.” McKenzi Peace, a senior marketing major from Lexington, said she would have liked to have had such an adviser when she changed her major. “There need to be people to talk to who understand what you need to do to change majors,” Peace said. “I figured it out on my own but it would have been nice to have someone to help.” The WKU Office of Institutional Research releases a fact book each
year with data and statistics concerning every aspect of the university. The 2016 fact book accounts a graduation rate of 50 percent and a freshman-sophomore retention rate of 74 percent. “We often hear students saying ‘I couldn’t get the schedule I want, or even figure out how to get a schedule, so I’m not going to return next semester,’” Jensen said. Jensen said the goal of the academic advising office is to give students a better picture of what’s going on, to help with retention and make them more informed.
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