By Megan Kelly
News Assistant
Student Government (SG) held its weekly general assembly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and discussed a potential new club on campus, plans for the upcoming Homecoming tailgate and other important events.
The meeting began by SG officially recognizing the Scientista Club, a club specifically for women in the College’s STEM program. The club plans to hold events with female speakers involved in STEM so that students can get a better understanding of the field of study they are planning to enter. The club is also open to men, but so far, none have expressed interest, according to representatives.
After the vote, SG then voted to approve bill B-F2016-06, which will shift responsibility of recording meeting attendance from the Speaker of the General Assembly to the Alternate Student Trustee (AST).
“In case anything did happen with attendance where there’s bad blood, it wouldn’t be with the member and the Speaker, it would be with the member and AST, because the Speaker’s position is designed for basically better community within SG,” President Kevin Kim said.
Next, Kim swore in new members, including newly elected senators, the junior class council secretary and the entire freshman class council.
Afterward, Kim went through all of the plans SG has for Homecoming weekend so far, beginning with the Lip Sync and Dance, which will take place on Friday, Oct. 28.
This year, the theme of Spirit Week is reality TV shows, so any team that signs up for Lip Sync and Dance will be assigned a TV show. According to Kim, some of the shows will be “American Idol,” “The Amazing Race” and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” After Lip Sync and Dance, there will be late-night breakfast food served in the T/W Lounge, Kim said.
Kim then addressed the tailgate, which will take place on Saturday, Oct. 29. The tailgate will take place in Lot 4, and there will be three different check-in stations for students to use, two of which will be for checking containers, such as coolers and backpacks. The other station will be for students with smaller bags, such as handbags. These three check-in stations will not be for ID-ing students — there will be three more check-in stations within the tailgate at which students who are 21 or older can get wristbands.
“That’s going to hopefully make it flow a lot better. There shouldn’t be too many people getting caught up,” Kim said.
Last year, there was some concern with the security at the tailgate, as some thought it was too relaxed, but this year, the security will be much more careful.
“This year, we went with a completely different company… and they made it very clear that the bags should be getting checked thoroughly,” Kim said.
Kim also announced the beverage prices that the third party vendor will sell. Domestic beers for will be $3 a cup, while craft beers and wine will be $4 a cup.
For students who don’t necessarily want to participate in the tailgate, MainStage will happen on the Loser Lawn from 11 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m. MainStage will feature several performances by students and local talent, and will also sell food and drinks.
“It’s a cool place for people with families or students who don’t like the whole tailgating scene. (They) can go to MainStage, they can go to performances, they can buy food that isn’t available at the tailgate area, and there’s free hot chocolate and cider, I think,” Kim said.
There will also be a fourth entrance into the tailgate specifically for re-entry from the MainStage area that will face Loser Lawn from Lot 4.
The Homecoming Dance will take place on the night of Homecoming in the Student Recreation Center. According to Kim, the theme is more of a carnival or festival type event rather than just a homecoming dance. There will be inflatables and different activities for students. There will also be over $1,000 worth of pizza served.
“The way we set up the pizza is that there’s pizza coming every hour, like a wave of pizza coming in,” Kim said.
Then, on Sunday, Oct. 20, the Fun Run will occur from noon to 1 p.m. Last year, the run spanned the entire length of the Metzger Loop, but this year, it is an abridged version of the course. Students are encouraged to wear their costumes and walk or run the course.
“You can get a cool prize if you win a medal, but it’s not competitive at all,” Kim said.
On the same day, Trunk-or-Treat will take place after the run. Various student organizations, including club sports, donated $250 worth of candy to Trunk-or-Treat, an event in which students from the Ewing, N.J., community can go from car trunk to car trunk and get candy, rather than going out at night and trick-or-treating the traditional way, which can be more dangerous.
Later, Vice President of Community Relations Michael O’Connor announced that the Day of Service will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Transportation will be made available to anyone who participates and lunch will be served after students arrive back on campus.
“We’ll be traveling off of TCNJ campus to local households in Ewing and Trenton, working with Habitat for Humanity and some other organizations, as well, and it’s just a great day to really give back to the community,” O’Connor said. “I’m very excited about it.”
