Sara Tiradossi / Winonan

Winona State University will soon work to have an LGBTQ resource coordinator on campus to organize and manage safe space training and be a support for students and staff, according to the Winona State’s Student Senate.

The senate met on Wednesday, Oct. 26 to discuss this and club requests, several committee and academic reports, and introduce new directors.

Inclusion and Diversity services said LGBTQ resources are crucial to retaining students and making them think of Winona as a home away from home.

According to the senators, multiple colleges within the Winona State community have asked for a safe space trainings specific to their programs, in order to create an environment for students to feel comfortable communicating to professors and students.

At the meeting, the senators went over the approval of last week’s organizational reports from UPAC, Residence Housing Association, the Sports Club Council, Students United and ASO.

UPAC has planned a grocery bingo on Monday, Oct. 31, a magician night on Thursday, Nov. 3 and a bowling night on Saturday, Nov. 5.

Other club reports were from Students United, which said it was still looking for delegates, whereas ASO, Alliance of Student Organizations, has a new director, Senator Megan Grochowski.

President Nicole Zimmerman welcomed guest speakers to present, starting with Heather Nelson and her classmates who requested $2,044.88 to present their research at a conference for the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, Calif.

The research took them two years to complete, and they are trying to get it published.

12 students also requested $10,000 from the Student Senate to attend the Presidential Inauguration 2017 Academic Seminar in Washington D.C., Jan. 8-21, 2017.

The senators said the inauguration is a great opportunity that only occurs every eight years and will be a great exposure for Winona State students, who will be able to broaden their knowledge of the inaugural process and other political subjects.

Following the club requests, the president initiated a discussion regarding student services and the recent answers they received from survey questions that were sent to students.

Student Services Chair Jackson Ramsland said he talked to the director of Chartwells about the use of waste as compost.

Ramsland also mentioned the need for a free shuttle service to run on the weekends from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. as a safe way for people to get home.

Other academic affairs discussed were regarding the distribution of Scantrons that have to be evenly distributed between the Student Resource Center desk, library desk and the bookstore.

After the committee and academic reports, the president allowed further comments or questions from the gallery.

From the gallery, Dean of Students Karen Johnson said the Homecoming parade was a success and asked people to think about ways to make Homecoming a better experience for the Winona community, not only students.

She added there was a group of 60 students who helped with cleanup after Homecoming.

The next student senate meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 2.

-By Sara Tiradossi