The SGA is working on safety measures for students against discrimination .
The Student Government Association held its 117th general body meeting on Sept. 6 to discuss potential anti-discrimination measures.
This meeting and the potential measures have arrived alongside an uptick in discrimination-related events on and around campus. Notable incidentsinclude one in July at the Indy Apartments in Marietta where a racial slur was sprayed outside the fourth floor and a January incident where student Jalique Rosemond was attacked and called racial slurs.
SGA members working on these measures include directors Emily Chauvin and Yakinni Martin and senators Maya Muammar and Taejah Goode. The board is currently partnered with Kennesaw State Police in order to find and report discrimination-related incidents.
For Yakinni Martin, the position of director has given her a specific vision for this new initiative and what SGA members working on it must achieve.
“For me personally being the director,…I just want to make sure our standards for one is fully capable for handling issues…when students come up to them with concerns concerning discrimination with things like that,” Martin said.
SGA members not directly dealing with these new measures also have their own perspective on the matter. Gabriela Citino is a new member of the SGA, serving as one of two senators for the Honors College. She believes the effort and attention to detail her peers demonstrate will do a lot to resolve this issue.
“I don’t have much experience with the SGA since I just joined, but our senators are very diligent,” Citino said. “I have insight on how I feel safe on campus as a woman, while others have different stories to tell based on their own experiences.”
The SGA and KSU have also made an effort to prioritize existing efforts to curb discrimination. One such effort includes the school’s Non-Discrimination Policy, which “prohibits harassment of or discrimination against any person…by any member of the KSU Community on campus, in connection with a University program or activity, or in a manner that creates a hostile environment for members of the KSU community”. The school’s Office of Institutional Equity similarly contains information and resources related to preventing discrimination on campus.
More information about SGA and its efforts can be seen on its Instagram and Owl LIfe pages, the latter of which provides contact information for all current SGA members. Students can also reach out to KSU Police, to whom students can offer anonymous tips via a hotline or the LiveSafe app.