During the Student Senate meeting on Dec. 11, a series of announcements were made, and questions were asked that could impact the University of Wisconsin-Platteville soon.

One question that was brought up was why there isn’t an online form to make appointments at health services. The Senate stated that they will be looking more into that and why that is. Another notable topic was that there have been changes made to our online phonebook. To view the directory, students need to login with their UW-Platteville account. This change restricts access from public viewing. Student Senate has sent a thank you to Information Technology Services and associates for this update.

University Counseling Services has updated their website. The department received a  25 percent increase in students using their services over the course of this semester.

Dining services are looking into donating meals to those who don’t have any or who have run out.

Student body vice president Skylar Lopez-Kohler discussed the University Bias Incident Team alert about the increase in recent bias reports regarding the use of the “n” word. He read aloud a proposed statement in response to these reports.

“If you see discrimination, speak up,” Lopez-Kohler said. “If you see intolerance, speak up. If you experience injustice, stand up. As an institution that devotes our being to higher education we are responsible for the future. Acts of hatred, intimidation, bigotry and bias are an attack on the foundation of who we are and what this great institution stands for.”

One senator also brought up a possible case of faculty acting poorly/inappropriate towards women. Dean of Students Sherry Nevins spoke on steps to take to help address these situations.

“Sadly, this is not unique to our institution; it’s not unique to higher education,” Nevins said. “I’d love an opportunity to talk with that student or those students. We can certainly help them navigate the process of how they would go about filing a report and what does that look like.”