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The General Student Senate meeting on election night was shorter than usual, but saw debate on two resolutions totaling $7,000 in allocations.
The first resolution was to allocate $3,000 to the men’s Rugby Club. The main concern of the opposition was no member of the club was in attendance to speak on its behalf. Vice President of Financial Affairs Justin Labonte spoke for the club, saying the club received allocations from the senate in the past and that representation had never been a problem.
The senators debated postponing the allocation until the next session, but the allocation was needed for a tournament this weekend. Eventually the senate decided that the Rugby Club had a history of proper representation and they were playing for a qualifying seat in a national tournament, so the resolution passed.
Sen. Nate Wildes was originally skeptical of the allocation, saying he did not feel comfortable giving money to an organization that was not present to state their case.
“I know they are a well-organized team . as a general point, I think it’s important that [GSS doesn't] start funding teams, as a precedent, that don’t have representation,” Wildes said.
Sen. Alexander Ortiz was familiar with the club and felt it was necessary for them to represent the University of Maine.
“I was in favor of the [allocation to the men's Rugby Club] because they are always very well represented . and a chance at a national title would look very good for the University of Maine,” Ortiz said.
The senate discussed the allocation to give the Roller Hockey Club $4,000 at length in the meeting. The money would pay for a portion of the $5,000 league fees. The resolution was already postponed two weeks because the club didn’t have representation at the senate sessions. Wildes, Sen. Abtin Mehdizadegan and Sen. Sean Rankin called into question the club’s organization after many of its members left to join the newly formed Ice Hockey Club.
They again voted whether to postpone the resolution another week, but that was voted down. The senators debated and asked club representative Sean O’Connor questions about whether the club would be able to use the funding if it was granted. O’Connor assured them the funds were vital to the club’s success and its continued development.
The resolution passed after Labonte explained the club still would need to contribute at least $1,000 to join their league. If they were unable to do so, the club would give back the $4,000.
Wildes was a lead opponent of the resolution but changed his stance after Labonte clarified the confusion.
“I don’t want to fund $4,000 to a group that doesn’t have their stuff together,” Wildes said. “However . I feel comfortable supplying them with the funds under the premise that they have to organize themselves to come up with the remainder of the funding.”
Also at the meeting were representatives from Universidad De Las Americanos Pueblos Student Government. Marco Rubio, secretary of Student Government at UDLAP, spoke to the senate, using a PowerPoint presentation to show the similarities and differences in the Mexican university’s student government. The presentation is part of a program that sends several students from UDLAP to UMaine for a week to learn about the culture, government and educational structure of an American university. UMaine students are offered a similar opportunity in March to go to UDLAP and experience a foreign lifestyle for a week.
UMaine representative for the program Andrew Johnson spoke to the senate and used his experiences to show the rewarding nature of the trip.
“It gives [UMaine students] a cultural experience . because many people here are very much unaware of universities outside of the state of Maine, let alone international universities,” Johnson said.
In addition to the allocations to the men’s Rugby Club and Roller Hockey Club, the senate granted $200 to International Students Association, $875 to Men’s Volleyball, $400 to the Maine Peace Action Committee, $240 to UMaine Green Team, $610 to Amnesty International, $150 to the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and $725 to Campus Crusade for Christ. Labonte also announced in his report that the following was returned to unallocated: $550 from Wilde Stein, $200 from the Student Heritage Alliance Center and $1,736.70 from the Zipcar program.
At the meeting, President James Lyons also announced that Wildes was his nominee for the senate representative to the Executive Cabinet. Wildes was then appointed to the position. Lyons was excited about the chance to have a new senator fill the position.
“Nate has come into senate this semester and in the time he’s been here he’s been more than happy to voice his opinion, to give thought to issues,” Lyons said. “With the President’s Cabinet, a lot of times you get people who have been in the system a long time, and sometimes it’s nice to add a fresh voice to that.”
Bangor Daily News