USG meetings share updates regarding counseling, flu season, COVID-19 and a new resolution for Election Day.

The wait time for students seeking counseling has gone from four to six weeks down to about one week. This was made possible due to an investment from the president’s office. 

In addition to the drop in wait time, Batey shared that the counseling center will be starting drop-in sessions through a program called, “Lets Talk”. This will allow students to access counseling more conveniently without scheduling in advance. 

Batey stated, “We are going to have these counselors available at different locations across campus on different dates”. This will include the BGSU Firelands campus. 

Students who go to these drop-in sessions can also be scheduled for additional counseling sessions including one on one and group sessions.

Batey also shared updates regarding COVID-19 and Influenza on campus stating that, “We actually are having a really good winter”.

“There was worry that there was going to be a lot of illness circulating this Winter, that did not come to pass,” he said. 

 When talking about the flu, he explained the timing was lucky with the early flu season. Flu cases started to spike right as everyone left for break. COVID-19 cases have stayed low due to the build up of natural and vaccinated immunity though we may see a bump in cases this March. 

Batey pointed out that as we approach the end of the semester, the federal government is going to end the “Pandemic Declaration.” This means the government will no longer provide things like free COVID-19 tests and free vaccinations and students will have to use their insurance card. 

Director of Student Engagement Damon Sherry introduced a senate resolution aiming to acknowledge Election Day as a campus holiday for its first reading. 

“Recognizing Election Day on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, encourages students to vote, or work as poll workers, as well as, to engage in our democracy as a public good,” the resolution said. 

Some colleges around the nation that already recognize Election Day as a campus holiday include Stanford University, University of Utah, Colorado College, University of Illinois and the University of Kentucky. This gives students the day off from classes so they can vote or volunteer as poll workers.

The resolution has been in the works for seven months as the USG has been working with the Graduate Student Senate and the Faculty Senate for a three-way consecutive bill to make it more likely to happen. They also have been working with the university to ensure the resolution gets implemented correctly with no negative repercussions.