South Dakota House and Senate bills set to impact surrounding rural area

South Dakota has several House and Senate bills from the 2021 session projected to impact the environment and rural community influencing tax breaks for land-owners, broadband networks and meat processing and packing. These bills include House Bill 1042, House Bill 1077 and Senate Bill 34. Information on these bills is sourced from the South Dakota […]

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New SGA president, vice president and exec. team are appointed

Student Government Association President Alexandra Fiener and Vice President Katie Brust were sworn in at the March 16 SGA meeting by former President Abuk Jiel.   Along with the new president and vice president, a new senate was also sworn in. The new senators include Garrett Adam, Gretchen Biersbach, Lily Christian, Trenton Hoekstra, Abigail Johnson, Darby […]

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SGA hosts deputy athletic director

USD’s Deputy Athletic Director, Mike West, and USD’s Director of Athletic Marketing and Promotions, Jarren Duffy, spoke at this week’s SGA meeting. Student attendance at athletic events is growing and is above average compared to other universities. Normally over 200 students attend the volleyball and basketball games. “It’s been awesome to see the students section […]

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SD Department of Agriculture will merge with Department of Environment and Natural Resources

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are merging into one department. “South Dakota will be the only state in the United States that doesn’t have its own designated environmental agency,” Ailee Johns, 2020 South Dakota state senate candidate for District 17, said. Gov. Kristi Noem and South […]

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Summer Shakespeare Festival 2021 planned to be in-person

The South Dakota Shakespeare Festival (SDSF) will be held in person at Prentis Park this summer from June 17-20, unlike the remote festival that was streamed online last summer. Artistic Director, Chaya Gordon-Bland, said the mission of the SDSF is to engage, connect and inspire communities by exploring our shared human experiences through inclusive professional […]

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USD takes steps toward sustainability with PLAN

 The Post Action Landfill Network (PLAN) helps college students across the country by providing resources, educational courses and leadership training. USD students have access to all of these trainings at the website postlandfill.org by using a USD e-mail. “PLAN empowers our generation to be changemakers. We really put our belief in students for this zero-waste […]

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SGA passes bills to amend budget, election advertisement by-laws and organization funding

Three bills were passed at this week’s SGA meeting, Senate Bill 69, to amend the SGA by-laws to clarify budget procedures, Senate Bill 68, to amend the SGA by-laws to advertise elections and Senate Bill 67, to fund speakers for the Sociology Club. Senate bill 67, special appropriation for the Sociology club, was passed. This […]

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SGA discusses no tailgating for spring football

There will be no tailgating for football this coming spring. USD is following what other schools in the Missouri Valley Conference are doing, Senator Armand Khan said at this week’s SGA meeting. Clay County is vaccinating 80-100 people a week, Khan said, reporting on the last COVID Taskforce meeting. USD’s number remains low. Senate Resolution 8, […]

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Local bars sustain steady business

Vermillion bars have stayed open throughout the later part of the pandemic. For other business who are also aiming to thrive during this time, services like WebinarCare offer comprehensive virtual event solutions. The Dakota Brickhouse General Manager, Josh Scherrer said all Vermillion businesses have been affected in some way or another in the past year. Businesses […]

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Proposed draft plan presented to SGA promoting sustainability

The University Sustainability Committee proposed a plan to raise USD’s Atlas score, a score evaluating how sustainable the USD campus is, at Tuesday’s SGA meeting. Anna Moore, Campus Recycling Coordinator and sustainability grad major, said the most important thing to get the program going is involvement and consistency.  USD’s current Atlas score is 36%. The […]

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