Rep. Joe Schmick paid a visit to chat with members of the ASWSU Senate during their weekly meeting yesterday.

Schmick has represented the 9^th legislative district, which is made up of Adams, Asotin, Franklin, Garfield and Whitman counties, since 2007.

Rather than making a speech at the Senate, the representative wanted to have a conversation with them. Pushing aside the podium and pulling up a chair, he asked them what they were studying, what they hope to do after college and what they’re afraid of in terms of the future.

Schmick stressed how much primary care professionals are needed in Washington to any senator that said they were interested in the medical field.

“Rural areas, like the ones I serve, are in desperate need of medical professionals,” Schmick said. “A friend of mine who lives in Washtucna’s appendix burst. He had two choices, drive to the hospital in Colfax or the one in Othello; it is 40 minutes either way. Luckily he made it, but it was close. It shouldn’t have to be ‘close.’”

During his time as a state representative, Schmick has continually voted in favor of higher education issues, including decreasing undergraduate tuition and creating a task force on campus sexual violence prevention. He also co-sponsored the bill for the WSU Medical School.

“I worry about you kids. I worry about the amount of debt you all will come out of school with. You go straight from school loans to mortgage loans, and that’s not OK.”

After the representative finished speaking, the Senate unanimously voted in favor of a resolution that shows the body supports giving the late Elson S. Floyd an Honorary Doctorate from the university.

Resolution 45-01, co-sponsored by senators Colleen McMahon and Garrett Kalt, cites 11 reasons why Floyd deserves the honorary doctorate, such as leading the $1 billion fundraising campaign, nearly doubling the amount of students of color and helping WSU get into the top 11 percent  of public universities for research funding.

“I could have written several more (reasons) to show why Floyd deserves this, but I feel like everyone already knows that he does,” McMahon said.

The passed resolution will be forwarded to the Faculty Senate, who will then pass it onto the university.

Reporting by Jonathan Carrigan