My name is Ciaban Canales Peterson and I am the President of the Student Veterans Organization at Wichita State University. Tonight, the Veterans’ Senator Michael Bearth, will present a resolution to SGA regarding advocacy in “Ensuring the role of Dedicated School Certifying Officials” (SCO). This resolution addresses previous actions the University has taken regarding GI Bill benefits. Senate will begin at 6:30pm in the RSC Santa Fe Trail Room 233. 

A recent SGA resolution, advocating for needing more dedicated SCOs, addressed the concerns of student veterans and dependents benefits processed on campus. These benefits have not been properly processed in a timely manner by the school since the previous dedicated and proficient SCO resigned causing longer wait times for students. When GI Bill benefits are not processed properly, the VA cannot process benefits on their end therefore leading to students not receiving living stipends, tuition, and payments for books/fees. 

More importantly the previous resolution gave solutions to fix short and long term to the related campus issues. The resolution also brought up a concern for missing contingencies necessary to prevent this problem that past Student Veteran Organization (SVO) leaders and Military/Veteran Services administration have argued for.

The SVO is concerned with the current and next semester of students benefits and registration. Please join us in voicing how this has impacted you, or listen if you are interested in supporting student veterans and dependents tonight. SVO members will be attending and those members who cannot attend tonight have written letters to be read addressing the situation

Respectfully,
Ciaban Canales Peterson, President of the Student Veterans Organization