Last Wednesday's Student Government Association (SGA) meeting focused on a proposed resolution to reform the student organization system. The resolution, sponsored by Eric Pasternack, vice president of legal and government affairs, deals with the lack of funds for the ever-increasing number of new clubs and organizations on campus.
"We have too many student organizations, which is usually a good thing," Pasternack said. But he went on to describe the problems with allocating funding from the Student Finance Board (SFB), and how there is little record kept on what each organization does.
The resolution seeks to create a new system that will help SGA and SFB keep track of student organizations on campus by placing each existing organization, as well as new organizations seeking approval, into categories, each governed by a separate body. These committees would keep track of what each club is doing and report back to the SFB and SGA.
Pasternack said SGA already consists of organizations grouped together under 14 different categories, although there are no specific committees that deal with each division.
Despite the ideas for how the organizations will be divided, the resolution itself did not specify how it will be done, and only called for a reform of the system, with the proposed system as an example. "This is putting the heat in the ignition," Pasternack said.
The only objection to the bill was whether the organizations themselves would be willing to participate. "We can't really force clubs to join these things," Ravi Kaneriya, senator at-large said.
The final tally on the vote was 35 for the resolution, with none against and two members abstaining.
SGA elections were also discussed. "I was really impressed with the candidates of the student government," Pedro Khoury, SGA executive president, said of the open candidate forum he had attended.
He also made note that The Signal printed a preview page with the various candidates. The page gave a quick report on what each candidate has done previously and plans on doing if each is elected into office, which he believes gives students better knowledge of the candidates.
A recent meeting with Sodexho and possible changes to Carte Blanche were discussed, at which students proposed meal plans that would provide more Carte Blanche points and also extend the operating hours of Eickhoff Dining Hall. Sodexho representatives said such a change would greatly increase the prices of meal plans.
The representatives also pointed out that other companies that have Carte Blanche facilities open later had to charge an additional $3,000 a semester because the extra time is so costly. Also, since Eickhoff Hall is a residence hall, having it open past 8 p.m. would cause problems with the security desk.
