liermanm2@lopers.unk.edu

The UNK student body selected its student government representatives for the coming year last week. Noah Limbach and Tristan Larson won the presidential ticket unopposed. 

Despite the lack of competition, the winners say they’re committed to making sure student voices are heard across campus.

“We got the position basically handed to us, and that’s not how we wanted to earn it,” said president-elect Limbach. “We have a lot to prove. We have already been working as much as possible to make sure that we make the most of this.”

The campaign highlighted key issues across campus in areas of academic success, COVID-19 recovery, environmental issues, campus pride and campus improvement.

Library renovations again found a place on the presidential platform, marking an ongoing push for improvements to this student resource. 

“[Library renovations] are something that you see kind of towards the bottom of our platform, but we wanted to end on a bang,” Limbach said. “That’s one thing we’re super excited for because there’s really a lot of room for changes in the library this year.”

Limbach points to a bill that may be able to make this dream a reality. 

Legislative Bill 588, proposed by Sen. John Stinner of Gering, would, if passed, offer funding to the Nebraska University system to tackle deferred maintenance projects. Library renovations could potentially be included under a clause that would allow the NU system to make expenditures towards “any renewal, renovation, replacement, or repair of existing University of Nebraska facilities” with approval from the Coordinating Commission of Postsecondary Education.

Further implementation of the Open Educational Resource initiative on campus is another priority for the incoming executives.

“[The Open Educational Resource initative] has been talked about in student government in the past,” Limbach said. “There’s absolutely no reason that one student shouldn’t be able to have access to the resources another didn’t have specifically because of financial aid. UNK should be a college that’s accessible to all.”

The platform also sought to push back the class drop date, advocate for a student vaccination program and showcase student talent in athletics and the fine arts.

The student body president and vice president, along with the winners of the student senate races, will be sworn in by Chancellor Douglas Kristensen March 30, marking a return to normalcy after last year’s inauguration was postponed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.