New Senators and Officer Appointments
While Sens. Nichols, Domagala and Loredo resigned this week, the General Student Senate welcomed new Sen. Jacob Bradshaw, as well as observed Sen. James “Jack” Brown.
Club Maintenance
The Cooperate League of University Chicken Keepers (CLUCK) were granted final recognition. Originally based for animal veterinary sciences and wildlife students, CLUCK’s goal is to provide overall animal handling training for veterinary students. As backyard chicken keeping is on the rise in Maine, it is also important to teach handling, diseases, incubation and other factors that come into play when caring for domestic fowl. The 24-member group is currently using an insulated building across from Mainebound.
The Italian Student Union came seeking preliminary recognition. With just under 20 people interested in joining, their goal is to teach and share Italian culture, history and cuisine under the Student Heritage Alliance Council (SHAC) umbrella. The motion passed.
Club Presentations
The Field Hockey Team thanked the senate for their generosity, providing funding for hotels, uniforms and equipment over the past month.
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) thanked the senate for assistance in hotel costs for the National SWE Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. from Oct. 26–29. They brought 16 members and attended a variety of seminars, which gave them plenty of inspiration for workshops to host in the future. UMaine SWE was given the Outstanding Silver Level Award.
Executive Reports
President Kevin Bois came to the meeting with a number of initiatives to be discussed as part of new business. He will also meet with Thad Dwyer at the Rec Center on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. to discuss the disc golf expansion.
Vice President Jared Dumas attended dinner with the Chamber of Commerce, with Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Angus King as speakers. He has also continued his work coordinating groups for the Campus Sidekick app, particularly with Student Services for improved parking help.
“It’s now time to talk about Christmas, apparently,” according to Vice President for Financial Affairs Robert Begin, who is currently working on cheat sheet for clubs and organizations for money requests, which is still in the works. There is currently $192,096.72 in unallocated funds.
Vice President for Student Organizations Jacob Johnson met with Facilities Management to discuss the details of the new ice rink, hoping to find organizations that would use it to take turns on its upkeep.
Periodic Reports
Board of Trustees Representative Samuel Bohrer’s nomination has finally been approved, so he can finally get to work, though he admits to having problems contacting the previous representative. The next board meeting will be on Nov. 14-15.
The Orono Town Council’s next meeting will be the week after next. Voting will take place in the UMaine Field House Ward 1 for Precincts 1, 2 and 3 on Nov. 8 from 7-8 p.m.
The Old Town City Council’s next meeting will be held next week. Voting will take place in the Knights of Columbus Hall from 7-8 p.m.
ROTC Rep. James O’Neill reported on the battalion’s M16 training last Saturday. This Friday, the Army and Navy will be holding a football game at the Dome, with a kickoff at 7:00 p.m. Also, 20-120 Boy Scouts will be coming on campus for an overnight stay, to practice their fieldsmanship skills. They will be holding a wreath laying on Nov. 7 followed by a barbecue. O’Neill then suggested a possible cooperation in maintenance of the future ice rink mentioned by Johnson.
The November meeting of the Provost’s Council will be cancelled due to an open budget meeting for UMaine Orono with President Hunter on Nov. 15 at the Wells Center. The Council is currently in the early stages of developing a more streamlined process for the National Scholarship Committee this year.
Reports of Standing Committees
Marketing and Public Relations’ improvements to UMSG’s social media continues, now with 300 followers on Instagram.
Services Committee meetings are currently up in the air, as the only member at the moment is Senator Floreani. This has a significant impact on committee meetings with auxiliary services, because there is only one attending member capable of voting on issues.
The UMS/Student Government Association Conference Planning Committee has finished compiling their contacts and is putting together a formal agenda.
Representative Board Reports
Honors College Student Advisory Board will hold the Honors Ball in the Estabrook Ballroom on Friday. They are also applying for a scope grant for their upcoming social community service project.
Community Association Reports
The Student Heritage Alliance Council, in addition to its Culturefest and Día de los Muertos events, will be holding an open Shabbat dinner on Nov. 17.
Student Women’s Alliance held a Halloween tabling event, where they gave out condoms and candy, while giving information about Halloween and consent. They will be co-sponsoring the upcoming Sex Carnival. As it will be held the day before the election, there will be a political twist. What exactly that entails will be kept secret until then.
Wilde Stein is focusing on the upcoming Gay Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 10.
New Business
An act to modify Rule IV of the Standing Rules, Item 1, section (c), subsection (xi), has been tabled until it passes by the cabinet.
The International Affairs Association requested $1,625 to pay for registration for their annual trip to the McGill Model United Nations Conference on Nov. 29. Motion passed.
The American Society of Civil Engineers Concrete Canoe Team requested $3,000 for the Region Concrete Canoe Competition, due to an increase in participation. The motion passed.
As Senator Sarra’s first movement, the Swim Club requested $310 for the entry fee and hotel costs of a swim meet at Northeastern. It was an unorthodox presentation, as no member of the team came to present the act and answer questions, but the motion passed, at least on a preliminary level due to the small amount requested, which will be looked over by the cabinet later on.
A number of details regarding this year’s Light up the Night event will be workshopped over this week, from the possible route, to the possible use of floats, to even a possible name change, due to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s similarly named Light the Night Walk.
At 4:56 p.m., just over an hour before the start of the meeting, President Bois received an email from The University of Southern Maine (USM) about a possible change at board level this coming January which would increase tuition costs for the 2017-2018 year. This new fee structure would be part of the new method of aligning costs for all universities under the USM umbrella, based on population and funding. UMaine would see an $8 increase per credit, which would increase further over the following years. USM asked the Senate to have their own stance on the subject for January meeting. Bois noted that there are two sides to this issue and it is up to the senate to decide whether supporting or opposing this change will be in everyone’s best interests. The Senate will discuss this issue over the next three weeks and hope to have their stance finalized by Nov. 16, but they will need student input. Further details will be disclosed in the following weeks.
The senate will host the ISA Coffee Hour in the North Pod on Friday Dec. 2, from 4-5 p.m. They hope to form an informal committee for further plans.
The senate was requested by Campus Activities & Student Engagement (CASE) to co-sponsor a trip to Frozen Fenway. The subject has been tabled for next week.
The schedule change voted on last year for the next academic calendar, making winter break five weeks long and spring break one week long, may mean that dorms will be open over spring break. This will have an impact on dining and housing costs and the associated organizations involved asked the senate to form an opinion on the subject. The senate, seeing this new wave of points that would need student input, discussed the need to get more creative with online referenda questions, since FirstClass is slowly being phased out. On a related note, the IT Department proposed including Student Government on the Campus Sidekick app, for polling and other purposes.
A possible plan to offer takeout swipes in the dining halls was briefly mentioned. Further discussion will commence in the following weeks.
(6:00-8:25 p.m.)
