SGA President Randy Gipson-Black will conclude his term by completing the Blue Initiative and organizing two training sessions.
The Blue Initiative is a three-step plan Gipson-Black developed to reduce waste and promote environmental efforts on campus.
The first step, distributing recycling bins to rooms in Oklahoma United Methodist Hall, was completed in January. The second step was installing more water bottle filler attachments to campus water fountains. Gipson-Black said the attachments have been added gradually throughout the year.
The third part of the initiative is a water bottle campaign pilot program to reduce the amount of plastic recycling. The plan is to purchase about 500 water bottles for about $2,800, Gipson-Black said.
“We will partner with the First-Year Experience program to cover the cost,” he said. “During the first week of summer, we’ll order enough bottles for the incoming freshmen. Remember the tiny water bottle you got with your Stars Week packet? These will be a larger, better-quality replacement for those.”
Gipson-Black said incoming freshmen will receive the water bottles at an informational meeting during Stars Week, a weeklong event that introduces new students to campus.
“SGA will hand out bottles and explain the initiative at that meeting,” he said. “We want the students to start contributing to an environmentally friendly campus as freshmen.”
SGA officials are also planning a sexual misconduct prevention workshop to explain the Title IX process to students. Levi Harrel, associate director of student development, and Remy Barnett, Title IX investigator, will lead the event at 5 p.m. March 28 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
The workshop will educate students on the policy and process of Title IX, providing a safe space to answer any relevant questions, Harrel said.
“Each year, all of our first-year students get a taste of this type of workshop during the campus safety meeting, but this is the first time we’re inviting everyone on campus to attend the program,” he said. “We will talk about our specific campus policy and how the issue effects campuses in general. We’ll present different scenarios, discussing how to navigate them, be a helpful bystander and where to go to seek support.”
Anyone is welcome to attend the event without prior reservation.
“This will explore the gray areas of Title IX,” Gipson-Black said. “The Title IX process at OCU is private, which is good, but students don’t always know how it works.”
Following the seminar, SGA officials are partnering with the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils to plan a self-defense class for the campus community. The date has not been determined, but campus police officers will provide options for the training’s leader, Gipson-Black said.
“We’ve had a lot of sexual assault issues across the U.S. this year, so we want SGA to offer more educational programming for students,” he said. “We live in strange times and don’t get a lot of information about this after freshman year, except sometimes in Greek life. Hopefully, moving forward, SGA will get the pulse of the university and nation and offer educational programming for students.”
Gipson-Black said he hopes future SGA officials will support the Blue Initiative and continue communication between students and university officials.
“The university does listen to what students say, and it’s SGA’s job to communicate that,” he said.
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