New Senators and Officer Appointments
Five new members attended their first meeting; Shweta Desai, Lucy Guarnier, Theresa Hammes, Adam Shaw and Zoe Thomas will be sworn in the following weeks.
Executive Reports
President Mary-Celeste Floreani welcomed all present to the new semester, and is preparing for the Student Organizations Fair being held this Wednesday on the mall. She has reported that the University’s Student Readership deal with the New York Times has been renewed.
Vice President Logan Aromando reported on preparations for an upcoming retreat, and wished all present a good school year.
Vice President for Financial Affairs Song Ping ‘Ryan’ Wong reported a total of $382,023.24 in unallocated funds this week.
Vice President for Student Organizations Jacob Wood urged others to attend the Student Organizations Fair.
Vice President for Student Entertainment Jared Dumas, formerly the Vice President of Student Government, shared his excitement regarding his new position, and requested that those interested in joining the Student Entertainment Committee contact him.
Periodic Reports
The board of trustees continues to meet year-round, Representative Samuel Borer has served on several committee meetings during the summer, but has chosen to “prolong” this lengthy report to the following week. Plans pertaining to the University of Maine – UMaine Machais (UM-UMM) partnership were mentioned, including the search for a representative to UMaine Machias to serve under President Susan Hunter.
The nominations and elections for the open positions in the Fair Election Practices Commission will be postponed until next week.
In place of the absent Student Legal Services Liaison Maria Maffucci, Floreani reminded all new senators to schedule a meeting with Attorney Sean O’Mara.
The Graduate Student Senate will hold its first meeting this semester tomorrow. The representative position will be open, as the current representative cannot attend due to scheduling conflicts.
The Orono Town Council and Old Town City Council reports will be delivered next week.
The new representative for the Army ROTC succeeding James O’Neill was not present for this meeting.
The Provost Council is beginning the assessment of the Blue Sky Strategic Plan, which defines key areas of growth at the University, as well as processing the 2019 report for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges five-year annual review to keep the university’s accreditation. Members of the Council have been appointed by President Hunter to serve on the review board for the UMaine Code of Conduct.
Reports of Standing Committees
Marketing and Public Relations will hold their meetings Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m., half an hour before the General Student Senate.
Representative Board Reports
Commuter and Non-Traditional Students held orientation last Thursday, with 30 people in tow. They hope to host a Fiesta/BBQ event with campus multicultural organizations on Sept. 15.
Honors College Representative Chris Gilbert is unable to attend meetings this semester. He will send his reports digitally until a new representative is selected.
The Interfraternity Council’s first meeting will be held next Wednesday at the Alpha Tau Omega house.
The Panhellenic Council will start recruiting next week, and will be “invading the Union every night.”
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has been preparing their event calendar, which they hope to complete by next week.
Community Association Reports
The Student Heritage Alliance Council held their first executive board meeting this summer. Their next meeting will be held Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. They will be focusing on informative workshops this year, and making more collaborative efforts with multicultural organizations.
The Student Women’s Association will be represented by co-chairs Lori Loftin and Meghan Frisard until the division of the workload between them is determined. They held their first meeting this Monday with 35 members. The newly-funded Women’s Resource Center will host an open house as soon as it’s painted. Social event will be planned in future and they are planning regular events.
Wilde Stein: Queer Straight Alliance has a new President, and needs to find a new representative to attend the General Student Senate meetings.
New Business
As the 2017-2018 Academic Year will be President Hunter’s last before retirement, the Student Government have named Thilee Yost and Samuel Borer as the primary and secondary members for the new Presidential Search Committee. They must be approved by the Senate before their names can be brought to the board of trustees, and their work can begin. While they plan to report whenever possible, the majority of their work will be confidential.
New business concluded with a discussion on modifying the board of trustees Student Representative job description to include office hours in Student Government, due to alterations made to the role by the Board. Former President Kevin Bois has stated that Samuel Borer has worked as hard as other Vice Presidents, and should be paid the same for it. When Borer leaves his tenure, the position will keep the same workload and matching pay.
“It’s weird,” Borer commented, “because I have two job descriptions, I’m paid by UMSG, inc. and work for the Board of Trustees, so this is just updating the job description for what I do.”
