Students at EMU constantly complain about lack of funds. Little do they know, the Student Government Association (SGA) controls a budget in excess of $78,000. The money, which is drawn from a student fee of $50 per semester per student, goes exclusively to student organizations.
At some point in the spring, itemized budget requests can be submitted by all clubs on campus that have existed for more than two years. In order to determine their validity, the SGA Executive Committee, which includes the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, peruses these requests for two to three hours and then takes the proposed budget to the SGA Senate, where further debate occurs. Eventually, it is voted on and solidified, then submitted to the President’s cabinet for approval.
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A new trend, the worship of sports, is encroaching on the athletic world of the United States, creating unbalance in the lives of young athletes. EMU’s own athletic director, Dave King, is taking on a large project to explore the trends in youth athletics and the effects these trends have on collegiate athletes and adults’ post-collegiate athletics. King is engaging with churches, families, and researchers to gather information and share his findings with parents and athletes in Sunday school classes, speaking engagements, and an article in the April 2008 issue of The Mennonite.
King is exploring and gathering personal stories of athletes who are raised to strive to play on Division One collegiate sports teams. “What I saw was people buying into what I see as the latest “American dream” and all the pride, prestige, and finances that go along with it. When the reality was, and the numbers were showing that more than likely the kid wasn’t going to make it that far.” King went on to discuss that he didn’t see the church addressing the issue because sports are good, and sports can be very healthy. “I wouldn’t be in [sports] if I didn’t think there was something [we] can learn from it,” said King. “I saw people starting to sacrifice some of the values that I thought they really held dear for the sake of this quest to become the ‘best’.”
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The Shen, EMU’s student yearbook for as long as anyone can remember, has undergone a rough several years. Two years ago, it was significantly delayed, sparking several harsh Weathervane articles and significant stress for its editorial staff. Last year, while it was published in a timelier manner, was still quite stressful for the small editorial staff. As a result, the Shen has decided to scale back and produce only a small senior book and a CD supplement.
The reasons for the change are myriad. Among the largest is the stress of the past few years. This year’s editor, sophomore Becca Snyder, elaborates, “I was only part of it second semester last year, but most of the work was left until then. We also had new staff second semester, and there was a lot of training people to use the programs.” Graduates Maria Hoover, Frank Ameka, and Jeremy Webster, last year’s editors, also felt as if the Shen took too much time out of their lives, and advocated for a change in format.
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