The General Student Senate welcomed their newest senator, Samuel Borer, to his first full meeting this week, before moving to club maintenance.
Club Maintenance
The University of Maine Herpetological Society was granted preliminary club recognition. Their purpose is to provide an outlet for students interested in the field, since there are no herpetological classes offered by the university at this time. They hope to have regular visits to known locations in the Old Town and Orono area to find organisms, as well as teach proper identification and handling.
Club Presentations
After a number of changing positions forced them to miss last week’s meeting, the Maine Steiners a cappella group make their return to thank the senate for funding their transportation during last year’s tour. They hope to travel to Montreal this winter, as well as New York the following spring, entertaining while also encouraging students to join the music program.
Sigma Phi Epsilon thanked the senate for funding the Rock Against Rape on Sept. 2. They raised $400 collecting donations for Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance.
SUMMITT (currently undergoing a name change to “Black Bear Technical Theater”) is planning on fundraising for student funded events, and in particular, to send students to the United States Institute for Theatre Technologies (USITT) in Utah. Every year, USITT holds a conference for theater technicians on expo floor, allowing professionals to share their experiences in the field.
Executive Reports
President Kevin Bois detailed his plans to expand the disc golf course behind the Recreation Center. He hopes to collaborate with a few organizations to expand it from three holes to either nine or 18 holes. Further details will come within the next two weeks. He also announced that Cody Rubner has been hired on as the new Director of Communications.
Vice President for Student Organizations Jacob Johnson’s goal for the future is to “get our image out there,” to bring in new senators and bolster the senate’s public image, seeing as a number of positions are vacant at the moment.
Periodic Reports
Representative to the Faculty Senate Jonathan Deschaine reported that the Faculty Senate’s first full meeting will be on Sept. 26.
Graduate Student Senate Representative Mary-Celeste Floreani mentioned that talks are underway about editing the way students get grants, as well as new ideas for the UMaine Graduate and Undergraduate Student Research Symposium.
Representative Board Reports
The Panhellenic Council recruited 142 new members this week.
Community
The Student Women’s Association had another great, busy week. Members attended the Solidarity March held by the Wabanaki Confederation on Sept. 11, and three members will be attending an Advocates for Youth meeting in Washington D.C. They’ve also set the date for their yearly Take Back the Night event, on Oct. 20 from 6-8 p.m.
Allocations
$990 was allocated to the UMaine Figure Skating Club for Fall 2016 ice time.
$990 was allocated to the Blade Society for practice equipment.
$150 was allocated to the Interfraternity Council and Beta Theta Pi for food for the third annual Kan Jam Klassic.
$540 was allocated to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for the Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
Unfinished Business
Nominations and elections for the Student Organizations Committee continued this week.
Senator Floreani accepted her nomination for the Services position election from last week.
Senators Floreani and Crocker withdraw their nominations for Pro Tempore, leaving Brann by default.
Nominations for the Representative to the Board of Trustees, Policy & Procedure, Orono Town Council Liaison, and Sergeant at Arms have been tabled for next week.
New Business
The Senate passed the motion to move an excess $1,600 from the Student Legal Services Salary to Unallocated, as its annual budget was created before contract negotiations.
The motion to allocate $2,000 to the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team passed, to cover costs for tournaments, hotels and discs.
The South Asian Association requested a $1,600 allocation to cover supplies for the upcoming Festival of Colors. The original budget for the request was updated to $1,717, which President Bois suggested should be allocated instead. The resolution was amended to allocate this new amount and granted.
The Political Activism Committee is now accepting nominations for representative. Senator Brady accepted his nomination; elections will take place at a later date.
