The following covers the meeting on March 20.
CLIMATE CHECK
President Ty Tinker, junior, said that he had attended the vigil for victims of Christchurch put on by the Muslim Student Association and said that it was a well-organized event. Tinker encouraged members of SGA to attend events like the vigil in order to “lead with actions.”
First-year senator Ben Falcon spoke about his experience on the Tiger Breaks trip to El Paso over spring break, where he and other students on the trip volunteered at a migrant center. Falcon noted that the shelter was in need of male clothing. Falcon asked if SGA could partner with other groups on campus to organize a clothing drive. Junior senator Josephine Van Houten suggested that they look into donating to RAICES, as IHCI has partnered with them in the past.
COMMITTEE CHECK-INS
Each committee gave an update on their activities this semester thus far. Van Houten, chair of the dining committee, asked if anyone had heard feedback from students on the omelet station moving to where the pasta station had been. First-year senator Kaufman said that some people thought that they had gotten rid of the station completely. Van Houten suggested her committee partner with the Public Relations committee to help garner student input on dining services that they could then communicate with Aramark. Junior senator Taylor Volzer suggested that SGA starts tabling in Coates Student Center.
Sophomore senator Nick Pereda, chair of the Public Relations committee, explained that he is almost done with a poll to send to the entire student body to get feedback on what they want SGA to do differently and what programs that students want to see continued. Pereda also expressed concerns that the scope of the Public Relations committee is too broad, as it currently is responsible for the single-issue committees from the last administration, like the menstrual products committee. Senator emeritus Julia Shults, senior, suggested that the committee have subcommittees, one of which could cover administrative tasks and the other of which could handle event planning. Adviser David Tuttle suggested that instead, individuals could volunteer to handle initiatives like menstrual products and the plastic bag collection in City Vista Apartments, removing those programs from the scope of the Public Relations committee.
Volzer, chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, updated SGA on the progress of her committee. Volzer explained that they are having trouble defining the scope of the committee in context of other groups on campus that might do similar work, such as Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC), but that she is meeting with Alli Roman, director for Diversity and Inclusion, to talk this through. Volzer is also trying to meet with TDC executives and start communication between TDC and SGA.
FINANCE UPDATE
Junior Kenneth Clouston, vice president, updated the senate on the state of the Student Activity fund. They were around $3,000 under budget for February. Clouston reported that their semester budget is $330,432, which is lower than projected, and that he and adviser Jamie Thompson are looking into why this is. Clouston also presented on how they fund University-Sponsored Organizations (USOs), as the senate will hear USO proposals in April.
THE TRINITONIAN
Tinker announced that SGA will be buying a bi-weekly section of the Trinitonian, in which they will be able to publish whatever they want as long as it aligns with the Trinitonian’s general guidelines, such as no hate speech. Tinker asked for suggestions for what to put in this space. Senators suggested using the space for senator spotlights, to promote their initiatives, to list contact information and to encourage people to run for SGA.
DINING EXPANSION TO CHAPMAN-HALSELL COMPLEX
The senate sang happy birthday to Tuttle, who celebrated his birthday a couple weeks ago.
Tuttle asked the senate for feedback on the idea of placing a place to purchase food in the renovated Chapman-Halsell complex. Senators debated whether the option should be grab-and-go or more similar to Freshii or Taco Taco. The space will not be big enough to have seating. Judicial chair Julia Jameson, junior, asked about the sandwich shop that was supposed to go in where the CSI POD this year. Tuttle explained that this did not happen because they got negative feedback from students who like the grab-and-go option for between classes, but that a sandwich shop is an option for the Chapman-Halsell dining option.
OFFICER REPORTS
Tinker asked members of SGA to talk to communications chair Nathan Keplinger, sophomore, before talking to the Trinitonian so that they are fully informed on the appropriate information.
Chief-of-staff Jared Munoz, sophomore, explained that homework is not a valid excuse for skipping senate meetings. Tinker said that due to the high number of absences at senate meetings recently, they are bringing back the demerit system, the details of which are yet to be solidified. A certain number of demerits would result in voting to impeach a member.
