After honoring the late Northern Kentucky University Police Officer Roy Sims, the Student Government Association used the Aug. 22 meeting to present a change to the university’s midterm grade policy and read the proposed budget allocations for the upcoming year.

Officer Sims died from injuries he sustained in a traffic accident while leading a funeral procession in Montgomery, Ohio, Aug. 5.

Current Police Chief Jason Willis was at the meeting to thank SGA for their work to remember Officer Sims.

Student Rights Chair Mikey Adkins presented the first reading of the midterm grade policy resolution.

SGA has proposed similar requests to change the midterm policy for the past three academic years, without passage by the faculty senate.

Currently, the Office of First-Year Programs has directs professors to reveal midterm grades to freshmen in an effort to increase retention.

The proposal asks the faculty to distribute midterm grades to all undergraduate students, instead of freshmen only.

The only changes made to the resolution were friendly amendments by various senators. SGA will vote on the resolution in the upcoming meetings.

Finance Chair Holdan Markland presented SGA with a proposed budget of $50,100 for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Markland and Dean of Students Jeff Waple confirmed that number is the highest amount SGA can spend on salaries and operational expenses, including scholarship money it presents to students.

Finally, the Secretary for Public Relations Michelle Forlenza announced the call to freshmen to run for the Freshmen Elections, and there are five seats open.

Election packets, which can be found in the SGA offices or on OrgSync, are due on Sept. 1. To find SGA on OrgSync, students can go to http://nku.orgsync.com and click “Login,” where they will then be directed to the OrgSync homepage.

Freshmen elections will be held Sept. 6 and 7.

President Dustin Robinson said that electing freshmen into SGA brings a “new perspective” and a “new voice” to the meetings and NKU.

For more information about freshmen SGA elections, contact Michelle Forlenza at sga@nku.edu, visit the SGA office in SU 330, or go to the OrgSync page.