The General Student Senate of the University of Maine Student Government, Inc. (UMSG) held its third meeting of the semester on Feb. 3, led by President Keegan Tripp and chaired by Vice President Cynthia Shelmerdine. At this meeting, UMSG gave preliminary recognition to a swath of new student organizations and senators were given a financial update by Vice President of Financial Affairs (VPFA) Joshua Bohm.
Appointments
Four senators were inaugurated at this meeting: Kai Whitehead and Jackson Day for at-large positions as well as Presley Rideout and Brinley Seward from the Maine Business School.
Club Maintenance and Presentations
Five student organizations were granted preliminary recognition at this meeting: the Public Health Outreach and Education Organization, Collegiate 4H, which is a college-level affiliate of the national 4H agricultural education program, It’s on Us, an organization dedicated to sexual assault prevention, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, a group devoted to academic achievement and community service and Track Club, which the founders hope to eventually elevate to the level of club sport.
Additionally, the American Chemical Society Student Group was granted final recognition. All were given unanimous approval by the Senate.
Kasper Birgfeld presented on behalf of the Steiners choral group, reporting on their UMSG funded tour of twelve shows between Boston and Bangor that Birgfeld described as having been “very successful” at achieving their goal of “spread[ing] the joy of music to as many people as possible.”
Funding Requests
Two funding requests were approved by the Senate. The Maine Animal Club was granted $5,100 to cover the cost of attendance at the Northeast Student Affiliate of the American Society for Animal Science-American Dairy Science Association competition, a livestock judging show to be held this year. Women’s Club Volleyball was granted $1156.55, the remainder of the allowance allocated to club sports in their funding tier.
Executive Reports
President Keegan Tripp said in his report that both the syllabus bank project and student trustee selection were going well and that a new student trustee would be selected soon.
VPFA Joshua Bohm reported that the remaining unallocated budget stood at $121,544.27. Later in the meeting, Bohm delivered an address outlining the financial state of UMSG at the current moment.
Following Bohm’s presentation, President Tripp implored senators to advertise the UMSG budget as much as possible to help negate the Senate’s reputation for being “stingy” and make the recent Student Activity Fee increase worthwhile to students.
Senator Casper Cowan urged senators to confront those spreading rumors that he framed as “misinformation,” specifically those surrounding a potential raid on campus that some students online have claimed will be led by ICE on Feb. 11 concurrent with the now cancelled visit from Customs and Border Protection at the Career Fair, which progressive campus organizations were planning to boycott after a Border Patrol agent killed protester Alex Pretti during anti-ICE enforcement demonstrations in Minneapolis.
Committee and Representative Reports
Jaxon Gamble, the representative for Wilde-Stein: Queer Straight Alliance announced that in-person auditions for the annual UMaine drag show will be held on Feb. 19 from 6 to 7 p.m. in Room 104 of the Innovation Media Research and Commercialization Center.
