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President for the Residents on Campus board, ROC, Justin Labonte, gave a presentation to General Student Senate outlining a proposed plan to change the way hall governing boards are set-up. Under the current system, each hall has its own governing board consisting of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, ROC representative and programming representative. With the new governing board system, the halls will be split up into seven recognized “communities.”
Each community will have a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. To allow for equal representation, each dorm will have both an ROC representative and a programming representative in its respective community. Also, a community coordinator will advise each community to allow programs for students in each dorm of each community.
“There will definitely be representation from each hall,” Labonte said.
Each Hall Governing Board, or HGB, is allocated a certain amount of money each semester. With this new system, each hall will still receive the same amount of money. However, the halls will be part of communities and thus pool the money to create larger, more community based events.
The changes are to be voted on in early October by campus residents. If the plan does pass then the seven communities will be distinguished as follows: Aroostook, Kennebec and York Community Governing Board, or CGB; Balentine, Colvin, Estabrooke, Penobscot and Stodder CGB; Hancock, Hart and Oak CGB; Cumberland and Gannett CGB; Androscoggin and Knox CGB; Oxford and Somerset CGB and a DTAV and Patch CGB.
Labonte also touched on the campus cable situation for next year, as the current cable contract expires at the end of the spring 2008 semester. He said during his weekly report that students could receive up to 70 channels and the possibility of choosing certain stations such as HBO if they wanted to pay a little extra. At the end of the session, Labonte discussed what he described to be the “biggest issue” regarding campus cable.
“The chance to get NESN [New England Sports Network] is very, very good,” said Labonte, a third-year business administration major.
This week a resolution passed to replace the homecoming barbeque with fireworks. The cost will remain at $3,000 and will provide the students with a show for about 10 to 15 minutes. The fireworks are set to go off at the conclusion of the annual blue-white basketball game, which follows the homecoming football game. Senator Sean Rankin, an opponent of the original barbeque, supported this resolution.
“[The fireworks are] better bang for the buck,” Rankin said.
The most debated topic was a resolution to allocate upwards of $3,000 to Kappa Sigma for its “sausage fest.” The event, which is a festival of sausage to raise money for testicular cancer research, is tentatively scheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 29, to kick off Greek week. Senators Rankin, Labonte and Abtin Mehdizadegan all had opposing statements to the resolution. All three felt the resolution, which was also being sent to campus funds, was excessive. Mehdizadegan had an original amendment to lower the resolution to $1,408. However, after a period of debate he withdrew his amendment and Labonte put forth an amendment to pay for the catering. This amendment, which allocates $1,317 for the event, passed unanimously.
Also in the session, the University of Maine Swing Dance Club was granted its final approval as was the UMaine Tennis Club given preliminary approval, both by a unanimous vote.
President Kennedy and Provost Szymanski will be guest speakers next Tuesday at the weekly GSS session.
Bangor Daily News