New Senators and Officer Appointments
Melody Cropley had her observation this week.
Club Maintenance
A group came requesting preliminary recognition for a club centered around Spikeball, a modified version of 2v2 volleyball centered around a small trampoline. The group will focus on learning the sport in a recreational and competitive setting. Granted.
Club Presentations
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) thanked the senate for funding their trip to their AIChE Regional Conference.
Executive Reports
President Kevin Bois was under the weather this week and his report was given by Vice President Jared Dumas. Bois used his executive funds to give $200 to the South Asian Association of Maine (SAAM) for their Holi event on March 25.
Vice President for Financial Affairs Robert Begin reported $91,998.63 in unallocated.
Vice President for Student Organizations Jacob Johnson is still tweaking the student organization database and gave a shout out to SOC for meeting with clubs as part of the student government outreach initiative.
Vice President for Student Entertainment Isaiah Mansour reported that the Maine Day concert planning is moving “slowly but surely,” having reached the contractual negotiations phase.
Periodic Reports
The Board of Trustees’ next meeting will be on May 16. “There will be no Board of Trustees reports for the rest of the year,” Representative Samuel Borer said. “You’re welcome.”
The Chair of the Fair Election Practices Committee Alex Rahman announced that the votes had been counted and Senator Floreani was elected as President of the General Student Senate, and Senator Aromando was elected as Vice President. The inauguration will be held on May 2.
Legal Services finalized their budget last meeting.
Director of Communications Cody Rubner announced that a job posting has been lined up, with four positions open. He hopes to reach out to appropriate groups on campus to broaden the application pool. He has also been attempting to fulfill requests for new Snapchat filters, but all have been denied thus far. He speculated that this was due to him sending them as independent submissions, but organization submissions have a hefty bill attached to them. Updates in upcoming weeks.
The Provost Council has been working with new and old executives to break down the UMaine budget, and figure out what’s being spent where. More to come.
Reports of Standing Committees
To improve the campus climate, Political Activism has begun planning a collaboration with Americans For Informed Democracy.
Reports of Special Committees
UMS / Student Government Association Conference Planning Committee Representative Samuel Borer begged the other senators: “Please. Register. We’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time on it, it’s going to be awesome. I’ll post the registration one more time on the Facebook group.”
Representative Board Reports
The Honors College Student Advisory Board has been preparing for the Maine Day meal packing event at the Field House. With a planned 100,000 meals, it would be the largest meal pack in Maine history, and beat the record currently held by Harvard. And yes, this will be televised.
The Student-Athlete Advisory kickball tournament has been rescheduled for Monday, April 10. The first round begins at 4 p.m.
Community Association Reports
The Student Health Awareness Council’s biggest and final event, the Multicultural Mosaic, will be held in the Memorial Union on April 7.
Student Women’s Association is preparing for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and will be hosting a Clothesline Project in the North Pod this Thursday. Beautiful Week will be held on the week of the 17th. A petition boasting 11,000 signatures regarding an on-campus pregnancy resource center has been sent to Dean Dana, with no response yet.
Allocations
The Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team returned the senate’s funding for a now cancelled tournament. They decided to reschedule for a tournament being held this weekend. The request was originally listed as $645, due to a miscommunication with the team treasurer. The team requested $800 for five rooms for two nights and $160 for bid, for a grand total of $960. The motion was amended and passed.
New Business
3D Printing requested $3,113.69 for three new printers. Their current 3D printers are owned by the Mechanical Engineering department. The club allows interested individuals to request commissions at a price of $0.05 per gram. This financial request does not include material, because it’s cheap and the cost is included in the commission price. Motion passed.
The Maine Peace Action Committee requested $640 for their fall and spring newsletter. Passed.
Class of 2017 Council requested $1,815 for buses, social media ads, printing and rental of a trampoline park for Senior Week. Historically, about 500 students attend. Passed.
An act from Policy and Procedure to amend Part II of the financial policies was on the table. Specifically, Section 1, Subsection C, to give the President and Vice President of UMSG, Inc, an executive fund of $2,000 each, rather than $1,000. The President and Vice President use this as emergency funding for certain organizations or events. Financial Affairs estimated that Bois has “about $200 left,” and Dumas has “about $500.” Motion passed. “It’s the same amount of money in different places,” Dumas commented.
Services discussed a number of “little things”: There are plans for a pilot test for takeout swipes next semester, requiring a $5 deposit on reusable takeout containers. $3 million will be put towards renovations to the Bear’s Den, including the café and pub and the dining area surrounding it. Charging stations are up and Services may start advertising them. The only women’s restroom to have a working and well stocked feminine hygiene product dispenser is in the Bookstore and there are plans to fix that by placing more across the campus next semester.
Finally, discussions were held regarding an Inauguration Dinner. The event will serve as a final goodbye to executives and senior senators, as well as invite past executives to meet with new senators. No concrete details at this time.
