SGA passed four bills focused on student engagement and events at their Feb. 13 meeting.
Senate passed the Coffee with a Senator bill, allowing students to meet with a senator and get a free coffee from Big Cat Coffee, and the Feb. 16 Remembrance bill, a healing event in honor of the one-year anniversary of the double homicide in the dorms.
A second Winter Formal bill was also passed, securing funding for amenities that will be provided at the winter formal on Saturday, Feb. 22. A fourth bill was passed to provide prizes to encourage students to participate in the SGA election.
Coffee with a Senator bill
Senate unanimously passed a bill for students to sign up to meet one-on-one with a senator and get a free coffee from any Big Cat Coffee location. Students can request which senator they would like to get coffee with.
Speaker of the Senate Greg Abukar-Duru felt this bill would remove barriers for students who need to reach out for help. “I know a lot of students may feel intimidated to meet one-on-one with a senator or [during] office hours,” he said.
Each senator has been allocated $100, totaling $1,962 including GAR. This is enough for each senator to take about 16 students to coffee in a semester. Any funds that are not spent this semester will be moved to SGA’s reserve fund. Students can only get coffee with one senator and the senator’s coffee will not be paid for.
Senators will be given Director of Student Engagement Noelle San Souci’s business credit card to use when purchasing the drink. They must give her a receipt so she can properly document SGA’s expenditures.
“I know first-hand how incredibly effective this can be. I’ve been doing it all semester with students, just from my own money … I’ve had some of the best ideas through [getting] the perspective of students,” Vice President Aidan Burke said.
There was a debate amongst senators on whether or not the bill should be amended to allow senators to receive a free drink as well. Senate ultimately decided against it. “I feel really conflicted about using those funds for ourselves, not to mention it would lower the amount of funding we have significantly,” Senator of Innovation Isabella Polombo said.
Feb. 16 Remembrance Event bill
SGA approved a bill allocating $574.43 including GAR to host a remembrance event on Feb. 17 commemorating the year anniversary of the Feb. 16 double homicide. The dinner will be held in the Student Life Lounge from 6-7:30 p.m.
The intention of the event is to create a designated student-led space where students can feel safe expressing themselves.
“After last year, [students] felt like they didn’t have a space that was just for students to sit and just talk about how they’re feeling,” San Souci said.
The money allocated will provide food and drinks from UCC Catering for roughly 40 people –– their expected turnout. Mac and cheese, cookies and lemonade will be served.
SGA leaders will be present at the event to lead conversations with students along with Wellness Center staff in case students need additional support.
Winter Formal Follow Up bill
Senate unanimously approved a second winter formal bill, allocating $4,319.33 including GAR to provide catered food, a photo booth, uber vouchers and other amenities for the winter formal on Feb. 22.
At the Feb. 6 meeting, SGA allocated $3,699.46 including GAR for expenses related to renting the ENT Center for the winter formal.
Abukar-Duru voiced concerns about the cost of the event. Of the approximately $13,000 senate had left for events this semester, they’ve allocated $8,018.79 including GAR to this event. I’m concerned for future events or bills like these,” he said.
Senator-at-Large Bennett Mallott disagreed with Abukar-Duru’s concerns. “I think [we should] spend the money on an event we know is going to be a success, rather than saving it for a rainy day or something we don’t know is coming. I think spending it now is not an issue,” he said.
For winter formal attendees, SGA has paid for the campus shuttle to run on Saturday night to make the event more accessible for students. They will also have vouchers available for students to use toward purchasing an Uber. There is a spending cap of $1,500 on the Uber vouchers. Any money not used on the vouchers will go back into the spending pool for SGA.
Burke mentioned that he set the spending cap higher than he thinks will be used. “I don’t want someone to need it, and we don’t have it,” he said.
In other news:
- Senate passed a bill allocating funding for five prizes to be raffled to students who vote in the SGA election. The bill allocates $282.44 including GAR to purchase an Amazon Echo, a FujiFilm camera and other prizes.
- Riri Efekemo was confirmed as a justice. She is a criminal justice major with a focus in cybersecurity. Efekemo wants to use her background in law and cybersecurity to bring a new perspective on ethics and campus security to SGA.
Photo via The Scribe archives.