Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
The resignation of Joe Mollo, director of Student Entertainment, was announced Tuesday night at this year’s second meeting of the General Student Senate. Mollo will be resigning from his position effective immediately for personal reasons. Gustavo Burkett will serve as director until someone is hired to permanently replace Mollo.
This week the senate also dealt with an alarming report of rudeness from Maine Marketplace employees.
Senator Sean Rankin related that a recent lecturer at the UMaine campus was “appalled” at the prices and service at the Maine Marketplace, during a report he gave on behalf of Student Entertainment,
Gil White, author and lecturer, visited UMaine Monday night to give a talk to students. He and Rankin had dinner in the Marketplace, where White reportedly asked to speak to a manager about the high prices.
“Out of 150 college dinner facilities I have attended, UMaine is the most ridiculously priced I can recall,” White was quoted as saying.
Student Government President Priyanth Chandresekar was already planning a meeting with representatives from dining facilities, and Rankin will also be seeking an individual meeting with dining facilities representatives to address this and other issues.
Bill Hockensmith, director of the University Bookstore, delivered a well-received report to the senate on current prices and sales figures from the Bookstore. He indicated that UMaine has one of the highest ratios of used books to new books of any college in the nation. Used books constitute roughly 56 percent of total book sales, which is well above the national average of 26 percent.
“The price of textbooks is outrageous,” Hockensmith said. “I’ve spent the last 18 years trying to keep down the costs.”
Hockensmith was questioned by Senator Abtin Mehdizadegan and others regarding the costs of non-textbook items like pens and paper. Mehdizadegan noted that most of those products could be purchased much less expensively at Wal-Mart or other department stores.
“I don’t get [those items] at the same prices Wal-Mart does,” Hockensmith replied. He indicated that freight charges also add to the cost of those materials, but that he could make an effort to stock more affordable notebooks and pens. “Particularly with art supplies, our prices are very competitive,” he added.
Two new resolutions were read into the record at this meeting. One, sponsored by Senator Eben Strout, proposed fixing the desks in the Donald P. Corbett Business Building. The other, sponsored by Senator Hart, proposed that “This day in senate history” be re-instated as a weekly feature of senate meetings.
The senate approved two fund allocations, giving $4000 to the Woodmen’s Team to attend a regional competition in Nova Scotia, and $4400 to the Roller Hockey team.
A resolution to give the Sophomore Eagles $700 to buy supplies to co-sponsor this weekend’s Leadership Conference was considered, but ultimately failed. The group had asked for funds through the EBC, but their paperwork was not filed soon enough for them to receive their funding by Saturday. In light of the fact that no one from the Eagles was at the meeting and the senate had very little information on what the money would be spent on, the resolution did not pass.
The senate also passed a number of “housekeeping” resolutions, amending their standing rules and revising the job description for Treasurer of Student Government, Inc. Vice President of Financial Affairs Benjamin Benwell noted that the description should be revised before the hiring process to fill the currently vacant position starts. Benwell will begin accepting applications this week.
Bangor Daily News