By Dan Jalonski
Editorial Staff
SGA President Hannah Bruce and SATF Treasurer Emily Cormack
At Tuesday night’s SGA meeting, President Hannah Bruce announced upcoming budget committee meetings and said that only senators, and not e-board members, would vote on business.
Bruce said that SGA will try this new voting system for the next two meetings and “see if we want to … do that more next semester.”
According to Vice President Molly Goguen, e-board will vote on business beforehand and provide their conclusions as recommendations to the senate. She added, however, that now the senate will have the final say.
Bruce also said that this year, a budget committee will be formed to look at all of the fiscal year budgets during budget season. From there, the proposed budgets will be sent to e-board to make changes and recommendations. The budgets will then be sent back to the clubs, which will have the option to come before the senate to appeal.
Bruce announced three budget committee meetings and one mandatory budget meeting. The budget committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the 1839 room on Thursday, Feb. 16, Wednesday, Feb. 22 and Thursday, Feb. 23.
SGA’s main budget meeting will take place on Friday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m., and attendance is mandatory for all members.
Jessica Hopkins, treasurer of the Christian Fellowship, came forward with a budget request for $25 to decorate for the upcoming Rise Up praise event on campus. Hopkins said they were requesting additional funds because most of the club’s budget was used on the police detail for the event. Senator Alex Bushery moved to allocate $25 and the motion passed.
SUAB came forward with a co-sponsorship request of $1,882.50 to rent a third bus for the New York City bus trip. According to the club’s officers, a third bus would easily be filled by the 50 individuals on the wait list for the trip. The request amount represented the cost to rent the bus, $2,632.50, minus the $750 that will be obtained through ticket sales.
Senator Dylan Shea moved to allocate $1,882.50 for the third bus. The motion passed.
Culture Club president Rashell Wilson requested funds which were initially approved by e-board for $426.50, for the club’s upcoming dance night.
Senator Paul Manning moved to allocate $426.50 for the event. Due to a miscalculation, senator Chris Peck moved to allocate the corrected amount of $356.50. The motion passed for $356.50.
Bruce also spoke about recent SAC (Student Advisory Council) activities during the meeting, and said that SAC will be sending a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick regarding the budget. “It’s going to be delivered to the governor before his budget is announced, so we’re going to be delivering that on January 5,” she said.
According to Bruce, a series of opinion pieces will be sent out to newspapers before Christmas to thank the taxpayers for making it possible for students to attend state universities. The first of these will be from a Board of Higher Education student representative from Salem State University.
From there, opinion pieces will be sent to other newspapers as well.
Bruce said of the new voting process, it gives “more power to senate and makes them feel like their voice matters.”
In other news:
• The Hilltop Players will be performing “Sweeney Todd” tonight and tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. in DPAC.
• The Class of 2014 announced two upcoming fundraisers: Pictures with Santa Claus on Dec. 13 in the Dining Commons and the second annual “Battle of the Breads” gingerbread house decorating competition on Dec. 14 in the forum, co-sponsored by the Class of 2013.
• Ski Club will have their first trip to Wachusett Mountain on Dec. 8.
• Psi Chi will host a bake sale Dec. 6 from 2:00-7:00 p.m.
• History Club will have a table for their annual holiday drawing from Dec. 5-9 and will be showing “Pearl Harbor” on Dec. 14 at 7:00 p.m. in DPAC.
