The Associated Students of Fort Lewis College held their weekly meeting Wednesday, March 12. The agenda for the meeting was not publicly posted.
Fort Lewis College’s student government met to discuss developments between the athletic department and student life center, as well as updates on a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between KDUR radio and ASFLC.
Emily Bennett, operations manager at the Grub Hub presented news from their operation this semester and expressed interest in updating their memorandum of understanding with ASFLC in the near future.
Thomas Whipple, director of athletics began the meeting with new information on a sports performance center that will be housed in the student life center. The official opening date is April 11th.
Director of athletics Travis Whipple presents during ASFLC’s 3/12 meeting.
The performance center will be roughly 10,000 square feet and include 28 performance racks for various lifts, a stretch of turf and cardio rehab equipment, Whipple said.
The prospective schedule has the student performance center open Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m., and Friday 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., Whipple said. They are working out details on open hours for the fall semester.
The athletic department also launched the Skyhawk athletic mobile app that provides easy access to information on upcoming games and results across all sports teams, Whipple said.
ASFLC reminds students that the fall 2025 class schedule is now live and registration begins on March 31st. Be sure to schedule a meeting with your advisor, as availability is first come first serve for desired classes, president of ASFLC Brittany Bitsilly said.
Bryant Liggett, the station manager of KDUR, gave some background on FLC’s radio station as 2025 marks their 50th year of operation. This year also provides the opportunity for KDUR to update their memorandum of understanding with ASFLC, as the previous one from 2022 is expiring, Liggett said.
KDUR is requesting $100,000 per year for the next three years from student fees, a decrease from the current budget of $126,000, Liggett said. The reasoning behind the request for less money is that KDUR feels its financial support garnered through fundraising and the selling of advertisements is sufficient for their current operation.
With over 17,000 visits this academic calendar year, Grub Hub stands as one of the largest student facing organizations, Bennett said. This figure is likely underreported, as it’s estimated only about 60-65% actually record that they're visiting, Bennett said.
Students are encouraged to actively record the weight of food products obtained from Grub Hub, as these figures are used to secure grant funding, Bennett said.
Grub Hub is financially supported by FLC for only 10% of their budget, with over half of that provided through their memorandum of understanding with ASFLC, Bennett said. Their current operating budget is around $30,000 a month, not counting staff wages.
A formal proposal will be made in the near future with additional facts to request an increase of funding through an updated MOU, Bennett said.
Money spent on local foods increased 4.2 times from 2023 with the intent of keeping the money in our community and supporting farmers, Bennett said.
“We’re able to source from Indigenous producers, as well as producers who are land and people centered, which is a big deal for us,” Bennett said.
ASFLC hosted two ping pong sessions in the student union inviting students to chat and learn more about our student government on Thursday, March 13th from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and once more from two to four p.m. There is a possibility of another ping pong event occurring on Thursday, according to a posting by ASFLC.