Student veterans search for a new center

With a check mark next to nearly every item on the 107 Day Plan, there remains one blank box causing frustration for the ASWSU president and hundreds of student veterans.

ASWSU President Taylor Hennessey addressed the senate Wednesday night, highlighting the successes of his administration’s 107 Day Plan. It is in that plan where the goal of attaining a location for a student veterans’ center has presented a prolonged struggle, Hennessey said.

“We were told we would have a location by June,” he said. “We were told we would have it by July.”

ASWSU and the WSU Space Committee, which includes members from Capital Planning and Development and Capital Budget Office, have coordinated during the summer.

The committee has yet to submit a review indicating a concrete response, Hennessey said

“We were told it’d be done two weeks ago, and we are still waiting on confirmation at the moment,” he said.

WSU is the only school in the Pac-12 without one, Hennessey said. At this point, he said he believes he has waited long enough for an answer.

“I’m about ready to get on the phone and get some phone calls out there, go sit in some offices so that this gets done,” he said.

Hennessey was not the only one to vocalize dissatisfaction.

Sen. Travis Tran is an enlisted E-6 officer candidate within the U.S. Army. Tran has been enlisted for three years. He expressed his aggravation toward WSU’s absence of a facility where student veterans can congregate.

He said WSU is becoming known by the veteran community as a non-military friendly university.

Requests for a student veterans’ center have been denied over the past three and a half years. Tran said he thinks it’s three and a half years too long.

During the next four weeks, Tran and President of the Student Veterans Committee Tobias Slaton will advocate on the issue.

Slaton plans to speak before the WSU Board of Regents in Spokane. Members from the Student Veterans Committee will present the ASWSU Senate with a declaration to gain further leverage on behalf of those enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces.

“By having our senate propose a resolution to show our support, I hope the administration will hear our voices,” Tran said. “We are fighting for the future of our university and for veterans of our university.”