The Student Government passed a bill on Wednesday, Nov. 13 that would hold SG members accountable for unexcused absences and late arrivals to meetings.
“We have noticed that there have been some issues this semester with people showing up late to general body (meetings),” vice president of Governmental Affairs Alex Brown said. “We wanted to hold people accountable for that.”
Members are currently penalized for absences and late arrivals according to a point system. The attendance bill increases the number of points assigned for unexcused absences and late arrivals to a variety of mandatory SG meetings.
“In the last attendance bill, internal committee was assigned two points per absence,” Brown said. “We bumped that up to four points.”
If a member is unable to attend a meeting, he or she must notify the speaker and vice president of the committee 24 hours in advance. Members will also be assigned two points if they are ten to 20 minutes late to a meeting. If they are more than 20 minutes late, they will be considered absent, Brown said.
SG will also participate in an attempt to raise funds for a Student Government scholarship.
“That’s something we can award to either one or two general body members for their dedication to the organization,” SG President Tyler Liberty said. “So we’re slowly trying to fundraise for that. It’d be a really good way to sort of put out a scholarship in our name.”
Two representatives from the Division of College Advancement, Christen Jones, major gifts officer, and Donna Green, director of annual giving, will be leading the initiative, which involves asking for donations from alumni, particularly those who had participated in SG. The goal is $25,000, but the actual amount could be much more than that.
“We have a trustee who is interested in matching, dollar for dollar, up to $25,000, whatever we could raise,” Jones said. “So that means that if we raise $25,000, that he will match that, and it’d be $50,000.”
Sadia Tahir, vice president of Equity and Diversity, announced the completion of the first issue of Diversity University, a newsletter that serves as a creative and informational outlet for different cultural, ethnic, religious and sexual orientation groups on campus. The newsletters can be found in academic buildings and residence halls.
Tahir recognized the members of Equity and Diversity who worked on the issue and asked for constructive criticism from SG.
“This is the first issue of anything of this manner out since 1855, since like the College was founded,” Tahir said. “This is really great, so I just want to make sure it’s perfect.”
Associate vice president for Student Affairs and Adviser of SG Magda Manetas announced a meeting on Friday, Nov. 15 to discuss the fate of the annual College tradition, “LollaNoBooza.” “LollaNoBooza” did not take place last August but was a program on the night of the first day of classes that involved a night of alcohol-free activities, games and entertainment.
“We lost the grant funding that used to fund that program and were unable to move to another strategy,” Manetas said. “We’re going to look at what is the value of this program to us, and a decision as to whether to try to continue the program or not, and then what will our strategy be to fund it.”
