The Grand Valley State University Student Senate met on Thursday to hear several guest speakers as well as continue discussing and introducing new resolutions for some of the last changes this year’s senate members will make.

The first guest speaker was Michigan’s Rep. Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), who came to talk to senate about funding for higher education and what she hopes to accomplish in Lansing’s capitol building.

“I’m encouraged when I see young people stepping up and getting involved in the world around them,” Brinks said to the senators. “I hope you take the lessons you learn in this body and put them to use.”

Brinks said GVSU is about in the middle in terms of college tuition costs, but since the cost of college continues to rise, it becomes harder and less feasible for families to absorb the cost of a higher education.

“I don’t think that it’s right you end up with so much debt after finishing college,” she said. “Our future depends on people like you to get an education for coming up with new ideas. When cost prevents from getting an education, we all lose.”

Cutting funding to education hurts everyone in the long run, Brinks said, and that is something she hopes to change.

“We’re short changing our future when we cut funding to schools and universities,” she said.

Brinks added that giving corporations tax breaks in the hope of creating more jobs was the wrong approach to take. Her goals are to restore funding to schools and colleges, give students tax relief so they can spend more on the things they need to succeed in school, and get more people like the student senators involved in the democratic process.

“I believe we should be investing in you,” Brinks said to the senators. “I would like to see you involved in the democratic process because we need more people like you who understand the everyday pressures of people in Michigan. I look forward to seeing where your dreams take you in the future.”

After one senator raised the question, Brinks said that sometimes it can be difficult being a Democrat in a mostly conservative area, but she also said it can be freeing because she is expected not to agree with everyone.

At the end of her address, she encouraged the senators to keep reaching for whatever goals they hope to accomplish.

“Assume you belong, do your research, and know what’s going on,” she said. “Don’t assume that anything is off limits.”

Other orders of business included guest speakers from Inclusion and Equity as well as the introduction and discussion of resolutions recently proposed to the general assembly. Next week is the last meeting for this year’s Student Senate, and the following week will host the first meeting with the newly elected senate members.
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