The University of Maine Student Government (UMSG) held its ninth meeting of the semester on March 25, led by President Keegan Tripp and Vice President Memphis Peterson. This meeting was one of the briefest of the semester, and was characterized mainly by clerical updates.
Club Maintenance and Guest Speaker
Entomology Club, dedicated to the study of insects, was unanimously approved for preliminary recognition. Drag On, an organization promoting student exploration of their identities and self-expression through drag, also garnered unanimous support for their preliminary recognition.
Elizabeth Oldfield, the incumbent Vice President of Student Leadership, was the guest speaker. She presented certificates on behalf of UMSG to the winners of its Student Leadership Scholarship. The winners were Isabelle Kostelnick, Arianna DeSantos, Lindsey Whiting, Quincy Clifford and Jasper Makowski.
Executive and Periodic Reports
Peterson discussed the incoming resignation of Jeff Dyer, UMSG’s long-standing executive administrative assistant, which will become effective on April 1.
Vice President of Financial Affairs Oliver Bois announced that the next meeting would be the lengthy annual budget meeting that is crucial to allocating funds ahead of the upcoming academic year. He also mentioned that the unallocated budget remaining for disbursement was $48,435.57.
Senator Ryan St. Lawrence, the chair of the food and dining committee, announced that Hilltop salad bar renovations had been completed and the new section is now open to the public. He also noted that, as Maine’s first game in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament was being held in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 28, a watch party was being hosted at Wells for the 8:30 p.m. game against the Pennsylvania State University.
Representative Board Reports
Representative Kass Belaya of Wilde-Stein announced that the UMaine drag show had a finalized date of April 5.
New Business
The Senate approved a request by Alpha Omicron Pi and the Panhellenic Council for additional funds to help rent out the Collins Center for the Arts auditorium to host their annual Mr. Fraternity Competition.
President Tripp introduced a resolution that would formally congratulate the UMaine men’s hockey team for their victory in the Hockey East conference using congratulatory powers of UMSG, which is something legislative bodies do on special occasions. The resolution motivated much more discussion than anticipated, with some senators feeling apprehensive about potential new precedents.
Tripp noted that, while the Senate has not usually used its congratulatory powers recently, the school’s victory in Hockey East was an accomplishment momentous enough to justify such a resolution. Ultimately, the resolution passed with only a few members in dissent.
