The following covers the meeting on Oct. 3.
CLIMATE CHECK
Senior senator Sam Afshari reported on the graduation committee meeting. Afshari clarified that any major changes to the format of the ceremony will go into effect in Spring 2020. The Spring 2019 ceremony will still occur in Laurie Auditorium, but speeches will be much shorter. Danny Anderson, president of the university, will have the only full speech and there will be no outside speaker unlike past years. The current proposal for changes to the Spring 2020 ceremony includes splitting the ceremony into two ceremonies with half the class graduating in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. It was not discussed how the graduates would be split.
Sophomore senator Mia Quintanilla inquired how to encourage more teaching assistants in the department of Business and other departments outside of the sciences.
FUNDING UPDATE
Vice president Rachel Daniel announced that $17,846.90 in rollover from last semester’s USO budgets has been added to the budget for RSO funding. SGA also underspent their goal for Sept., leaving $4,578.71 for future allotment. Following granting $3,714.72 at a finance committee meeting on Oct. 2, SGA has $16,227.59 left to spend this month.
FUNDING REQUESTS
The Society of Women Engineers requested $6,324 to send 12 members to WE18, a conference and career fair for women engineers in Minnenapolis, Minnesota. The department of Engineering had granted $1,000 towards the conference registration fee. SGA approved the amount of $3,972, covering the remaining registration fee, the AirBnB, and half of the airfare.
The South Asian Student Association (SASA) requested $2,924.33 to cover Diwali — an annual, free event featuring live performances and food. In addition to the cost of food and decor, SASA requested $776.44 to replace costumes that were destroyed when South Hall flooded last fall. SGA approved the full request.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) requested $2,588.29 to send four members to the Professionals’ National AIChE Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two of the members had been asked to speak at the conference about their research after being featured on the local news. SGA approved the full request.
