Student life levy projects get approved funding

Wilfrid Laurier University’s Student Life Levy committee has approved nine projects to enhance student life in the fall.

Matt McLean, chair of the board and chief governance officer of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union, explained that the total amount of funding for the first round of proposals is $225,418.63.

The two main projects approved for this round is a wireless and electrical upgrade for the upper level of the food court — giving students the ability to hook up their laptops and have more space available during study hours — and funding for Laurier’s Luckiest Student. The SLL will be giving $71,282.63 and $8,000 to the projects, respectively.

Other projects approved by the SLL include new keypads for the Club Resource Centre — eliminating the need for club presidents to have different keys — and new Macintosh desktop computers in the 24-Hour Lounge.

Those projects will receive $950 and $22,000, respectively.

In addition, the Turret and Hawk’s Nest will have a sound upgrade that will give the space more availability for non-university events.

“It’s making the space more accessible, because we’ve had requests for external use [of the Turret] and whatnot where there’s opportunities for revenue generation, [and] in which we can in turn put into enhancing student life here at the Laurier campus,” McLean explained.

McLean continued that Laurier has had troubles in the past with the sound system in the Turret when it became difficult for patrons to hear each other during events.

The SLL will be giving the sound upgrade $45,414.

SLL will also put in five more water filling stations in public areas for $20,272, change tables in 17 locations on campus for $25,500 and more advertising in the Fred Nichols Campus Centre that applies to student services, such as Foot Patrol, Peer Helpline and the Laurier Food Bank. The approved amount for this project is $20,000.

Finally, there will be more funding for mental health programming, such as getting motivational speaker Shane Koyczan to speak to students during Orientation Week.

$12,000 was allocated for this programming.

The next round of proposals will be due in October and projects will be determined by November.

The committee will meet in March for the third round of selections.

“Projects are funded based on their merit and the full amount available does not have to be dispersed,” said McLean.

“Any funds that are not allocated roll-over to the next round of submissions.”

According to  McLean, the exact amount of funding for the second round of proposals will not be known until October, but the approximate amount of funding available in the fall is $400,000.