Student Senate met for a committee meeting Wednesday evening in Billingsly to discuss a few proposed additions to the Missouri Southern campus.

During the capital improvements committee meeting, Cody Martin, freshman senator, presented a proposal for new recycling trashcans to be purchased by the Student Senate.

Martin said new trashcans would be an improvement welcomed by students, and would help improve the overall aesthetics of the campus. The senate is currently looking into a Canadian trashcan manufacturer by the name of Trashcans Unlimited.

The proposed trashcans would cost an estimated $300 each and would feature University colors as well as the Student Senate logo.

The capital improvement committee is also in the process of designing a brass statue which will be placed on campus depicting the University mascot. So far, the committee has received two proposals for the statue, one from statues.com and another from bigstatues.com.  

Both companies have experience with many universities and municipal government building projects.

“When we originally talked about this project we wanted to do this as a gift to the University,” Johnathan Saunders, Student Senate president, said. “It would come from senate funds alone. We would not seek outside assistance.”  

Both proposals include copious amounts of information including price, specifications and sketches of past projects.

The statue will sit on a base eight feet in length, it will be approximately seven feet high, and will be cast in  bronze.

“Casting it in all bronze is the most expensive, but it’s also the longest lasting,” Saunders said.

Both companies will include Student Senate in the planning of every aspect of the statue making process.

“They will send pictures and videos to us … and they will ask our approval every step of the way,” said Saunders.

“If we don’t like it or we think something should be changed, they will take note of our critique time and time again until they get it right”

As the statue will be a long lasting addition to the campus, the senate wants it to be taken seriously as an improvement to the university.

“I want the Lion to not be a pussy cat, but a ferocious Lion,” Saunders said. “We want to get this right the first time around, because if this all goes right, it will be around for decades.”

If no complications arise, senate expects the statue to be completed and on campus by the beginning of next semester.