An incident that started with a coffee spill worsened when a group of students along with instructor Karen Shah from a business communication class attended the Student Government Association meeting on Oct. 22.

The class was assigned to use the Executive Board room in the Campus Center as their classroom twice a week. The room also serves as the SGA conference room.

After a supposed spill of coffee left a stain, a sign was posted that read, “No food or beverages (except water).”

Longer notes were printed out on colorful paper and posted in the room after the original notes were taken down. These notes explained that during conferences and meetings held by SGA there are no food or drinks allowed. It also stated that if a reader wished to pose concerns that they could attend the SGA meeting Oct. 22.

The class feels they are being singled out because of the posting of these signs. They also shared they never spilled coffee during their class time. A student of Shah’s, Connie Brewer stated, “It’s starting to affect my education now, and that’s my concern.”

SGA President Lisa English explained that the lengthier sign was posted only because the first sign was taken down. She said, “If the coffee stain would have been cleaned up right away, I don’t think that this would have become the problem that it arose to.”

The panel of students left the two-hour meeting even more aggravated than when they came. They felt they were treated rudely by SGA by not being allowed to speak. Brenda Downs stated, “This could have been addressed in 10 minutes, and they made us wait through an hour and a half of the meeting.”

During the meeting, SGA members and senators were eating and drinking various snacks and beverages.

Vice President, Brian Rathfelder explained SGA is responsible for hiring people to maintain the cleanliness of the room. Because of this, he said, “Of course it’s going to allow us opportunities that aren’t going to be afforded to classes that are making spills and not cleaning up after themselves.”

Rathfelder expressed confusion over the conflict.

“You can go to a lot of other classrooms around campus and it’ll say ‘No food or drink,'” he said. “I’m not understanding that an hour during the day is an inconvenience so much that it’s disrupting their educational experience.”

Rathfelder also apologized for the amount of time it took during the meeting to address the communication class. He explained that they had an especially packed agenda that day and said that it could have been added to the agenda if the students had contacted them prior to the meeting.