On Tuesday, Nov. 9, the General Student Senate held their weekly meeting in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union, discussing senator resignations and the status of multiple clubs.
The senate had multiple chair positions open up due to the resignation of three senators: Alexis Plater, Matthew Seuch and Blaize Vail. This opened up chair positions on the Multicultural Affairs Advisory Committee, Membership Chair and Representative to the Provost’s Council.
Vice President for Financial Affairs of University of Maine Student Government Frank Kelly gave some information about the role of these chair positions during the nominations period of the meeting.
“The purpose of the Multicultural Affairs Committee is to examine the SHAC [Student Heritage Alliance Council] constitution and bylaws, update them, work with cultural groups on campus and come up with a system that works and that will continue to work in the future,” Kelly said.
According to Kelly, the SHAC is not currently functioning due to a series of events that resulted in cultural groups on campus not wanting to work with the council.
“Once that happened SHAC kind of fell apart,” Kelly said. Kelly also stressed the significance of taking on this position and the amount of work that would go into it.
Vice President for Student Leadership of Student Government Alyssa Ciasullo nominated herself for this position and the nomination was approved.
Another position that opened up was Membership Chair. Zachary Wyles, the president of student government, was the former chair of this position and talked about what to expect.
“It is really fun, I’ve done this in the past and I had a great time. You’ll be working closely with Vice President Davis to decide what we are going to be doing for the retreat and it will be really nice to do one because it has been a long time,” Wyles said.
Senator Kyle Ricker and Senator Michael Delorge were both nominated for this position.
Senator Jacob Chaplin was nominated for the position of chair of the Provost’s Council. These positions will be voted on in a future meeting.
During their discussion of club maintenance, it was revealed that 25 clubs were moved to inactive status due to not submitting the required update form. Some of these clubs included Guitar Club, Videography and Creative Media, Nursing International, Fishing Club and many more.
“There are 25 student organizations that have been moved to inactive status and are no longer recognized by Student Government,” said Bailey Lewis, the vice president for student organizations. According to Lewis, in order to be recognized again, these clubs will have to go through the preliminary and final recognition processes.
Representatives from the South Asian Association of Maine were at the senate meeting seeking funds for their event, Diwali Night.
“Diwali is basically a celebration of life,” said Atharv Desai, treasurer of the South Asian Association of Maine.
They are seeking $1,500 for their event, which is being held at the Memorial Union in the North Pod on Nov. 14, from 4 to 9 p.m. According to Desai, they are going to have many activities related to Diwali with the goal to be as authentic as possible. They are expecting around 250 people to attend this event.
After a brief period of questioning, the funding request was approved by the senate.
There was also a resolution passed to allocate funds to the UMSG Inc. for the purchase of 12 new desks and a large table for student government’s office space. Wyles discussed this resolution.
According to Wyles, there were office renovations made over the summer of 2021 which added a new room to the student government’s space.
“We were looking to get some new desks for that space and unfortunately the desks we have were made in the early 2000s and we can’t find one that matches them, so we had the thought, we could get new desks, better desks that could will last us at least 15-20 years and be a great long term investment,” Wyles said.
The fund request in total is $29,711.56, which covers the desks, a table for their space, four chairs and a file cabinet.
“We want to turn the office into a more communicable space where people can work together, so we are getting an octagon shaped table and four chairs to go in there,” Wyles said.
According to Wyles, the former president of student government put a lot of work into the office renovations. Moving forward, he wants to continue to make the office look more presentable for the future of the organization.
After a period of debate, this resolution was passed.
Dylan Taplin, the vice president for student entertainment of student government, also noted during the meeting that they renewed tickets for Spotlight Cinemas. Taplin wants people to know that it’s not just for one day during the week. Tickets are always free for UMaine students as long as they show their I.D.
