Seven student clubs will not receive their full budgets next academic year after they failed to attend Student Senate’s Diversity and Inclusivity Workshops.

According to senior and Senate Secretary Lissa Mann, 77 clubs signed up for the workshops, but seven of those clubs failed to attend them. She noted that 13 other clubs did not sign up at all, but said that these clubs may be disbanding.

Mann created the workshops with junior and Senate Diversity Chair ChanTareya Paredes as part of her Secretary Campus Outreach Initiative and in conjunction with Diversity Art Month, which occurred in April.

“I wanted to do something that addressed the current needs of the student population to me, which was that we needed to promote an inclusive campus and expand beyond just the idea of tolerance. I really wanted to make sure that this was something that all groups were able to do and had the knowledge to do so,” she said.

Four 90-minute workshops were held on two different weekends. Clubs were each expected to have two executive members in attendance. According to Mann, approximately 147 students affiliated with a club attended the workshops to receive funding. One student came on his own accord.

During the Student Senate meeting on April 21, the general assembly voted to not fund the seven clubs that failed to send at least one representative to the Diversity and Inclusivity workshops.

The following week, Senate passed an amendment to their Constitution which states that campus clubs must send at least two members from their executive board to a Diversity and Inclusivity Workshop.

The clubs who did not complete the workshops will have new club status and can receive $500 for their budgets and make requests for additional funds if necessary.

“We really are making sure that we’re using that money wisely and using it to be productive on campus,” Mann said.

Senate President and senior Hiba Ahmed said that the clubs that did not attend the workshops and will not receive their full budgets will be notified in the coming weeks. She said the names of these clubs will not be released to the public until the clubs have been contacted.

Mann said that she has for the most part received positive feedback about the workshops, but will be sending out a formal survey for additional comments.

Rachel Landman

Editor-in-Chief

Rachel Landman graduated in 2017, majoring in creative writing and double mimnoring in journalism and environmental studies. She was editor-in-chief of TKS her senior year and worked for TKS for a four years as a News Editor her sophomore and junior years and as a volunteer writer as a freshman. Rachel is the recipient of two first place awards from the Illinois College Press Association in 2015 for investigative reporting and news story. She also won second place awards in 2016 for news story and sports feature story. She saw her staff win general excellence for 2016. In addition to The Knox Student, her work has been published in the Galesburg Register-Mail and Catch Magazine. She studied abroad in London during Winter and Spring Term of her junior year. Twitter: @rachellandman_